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AUTHOR: 


GOLDMAN 


? 


HETTY 


TITLE: 


THEORESTEIAOF 
AESCHYLUS.... 


PLA  CE : 


JL^  AM.    M..     JLj    m 


1910 


COMiMBlA  [J.  .l\  i.W  ;  !  ;    ;  iliUARli  ■■ 
niH!  lOCRAri  1!(    MKAUAI  {  )RM  TARCM:  F 


Master  Negative  # 


Original  Material  as  Filmed  -  Existing  Bibliographic  Record 


Goldrnaii^   Hetty 

Greek  rr,s'^.:^.^::J:''r'y''''   '^s    illustrated   hv 


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THR  ORESTEIA  OF  AESCHYLUS  AS  ILLUSTRATED 

BY    GREEK   VASE-PAINTINC; 


By  Hktty  Goldman 


Printed  from  the 
HARVARD   STUDIES  IN   CLASSICAL   PLIILOLOCV 

Vol.  XXI,  igio 


THE    ORESTEIA   OF  AESCHYLUS   AS   ILLUSTRATED   BY 

GREEK   VASE-PAINTING^ 

By  Hetty  Goldman 


\ 


IN  the  discussion  of  Greek  vase-painting  the  state  nKiU  liiru  i  o  an  st 
ever  sought  to  produce  an  illustration  of  any  given  liter       f  f 

a  myth,  that  should  be  slavishly  faithful  in  ever}    i  tail,  hasa*  i  the 

value  of  an  axiom.     It  is  generai  y  conceded  that,  even  wht  at 

had  a  definite  poetic  version  in  mind,  he  felt  at  liberty  tn  a  •  a  a 
own  imagination  play  about  the  subject,  introducing  or  diacaai  ng 
figures  of  secondary  importance  merely  on  the  basis  of  personal  prefer- 
ence, or  because  the  composition  demanded  it  for  the  proper  filling  of 
space  and  the  maintenance  of  that  finely  adjusted  sen  f  lialance 
which  succeeded  tu  Lne  rigid  synimetry  of  earlv  painting  u  1  wa^  nut 
wholly  lost  even  when  the  potter's  art  ceased  to  ilourish  on  Attic  soil. 
But  just  when  a  vase-painter  may  be  said,  in  spite  of  a  certain  amount 
of  license  in  treatment,  to  have  been  inspired  by  a  definite  literary 
model  and  when  to  show  a  complete  independence  of  it  cannot  be  so 
easily  determined.  Walters,  for  example,  says  that  "The  influence  of 
Tragedy  on  vase-paintings  is  an  indirect  one,  and  t  atirely  confined  t )  the 
vases  of  Southern  Italy  on  the  one  hand,  and  ^  t'  i  h  v  (  f  E  a  h< 
on  the  other  ";^  and  those  who  accept  this  st  a      a  se- 

quence, refuse  to  see  any  connection  between  the  Orcsir.^  t  a  u  as 
and  the  numerous  vases  of  later  date  dealing  with  the  baine 

Influence  of  one  art  upon  another,  however,  is  of  a  subtle  aa  : 
manifests  itself  in  a  variety  of  ways.     The  painter  may  la  :;c.  t 
work  the  actual  scenic  production  of  a  play,  and  show  rei  c 

the  grouping  of  the  actors,  the  costumes,  and  the  stage-st  aa  . 
again,  he  may  follow  the  myth  in  a  more  general  fashiiia  t  iha 
ducing  a  definite  moment  in   the  action,  but  composing  the   ] 


aiKi 
his 


^  This  article  is  the  thesis  presented  by  the  successful  candidate  for  the  Chlrift 
Eliot  Norton  Fellowship  in  Greek  Studies  for  1910-11. 
'  Walters,  History  of  Ancient  Pottery^  Vol.  II,  p.  162. 


I  12 


Hetty  Goldman 


according  to  the  traditions  of  his  own  art,  or  trying  by  a  synthetic 
treatment  to  suggest  rather  the  play  as  a  whole  than  any  specific  scene. 
After  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  the  Greek  vase-painter  was  more 
given  to  this  latter  method.  He  grouped  his  composition  rather  loosely, 
an«i  we  i  rk  in  vain  among  his  works  for  any  conception  of  such  con- 
cent r  it  ed  dramatic  intensity  as  that  of  the  murder  of  Aegisthus  on  pre- 
Aeschylean  vases.  Finally  the  treatment  of  a  myth  by  a  popular 
dramatist  may  cause  the  vase-painter  to  identify  certain  general  types 
with  the  particular  story.  That  some  such  thing  happened  in  the  case 
of  the  scene  in  the  Choephori  in  which  Electra  and  Orestes  meet  at  the 
tomb  of  their  father,  I  hope  to  prove.  The  history  of  this  composition, 
which  has  at  its  centre  the  figure  of  a  woman  seated  in  an  attitude  of 
dejection  on  the  steps  of  a  tomb,  offers,  in  the  variety  of  its  application 
to  different  subjects,  a  striking  example  of  the  peculiar  tenacity  with 
wl.'t  li  the  vase-painter  clung  to  a  type  when  once  created,  and  of  his 
talent  for  combining  a  comparatively  limited  number  of  elements  in  an 
infinite  variety  of  ways.  But  more  of  this  when  the  Choephofi  is  under 
discussion.  T  wish  now  to  take  up  the  three  plays  of  the  Oresteia  and 
see  whether  uic)  Vuind  in  any  relation  with  vase-painting  subsequent  to 
the  production  of  the  trilogy  in  458  B.C.,  and  also,  in  a  few  cases  of 
exceptional  interest,  with  works  of  an  earlier  date. 

):  ti^amefnnonf  however,  offers  practically  no  material  for  this 
study.  The  reason  must,  I  think,  be  sought  in  the  play  itself ;  and 
while  conceding  the  possibility  that  vases  dealing  with  the  home-coming 
of  Au  memiion  and  his  murder  at  the  hands  of  his  wife  may  yet  be 
])ro'ii;rii  to  lighi,  i  doubt  whether  at  any  time  the  vase-painter  found  in 
this  a  subject  suited  to  his  needs.  Unlike  both  the  Choephori  and  the 
Eume?iideSy  the  Agamemnon  offers  no  single  stage  picture  that,  either 
by  length  of  duration  or  novelty  of  elements,  tends  to  impress  itself 
upon  the  imagination  with  lasting  force.  In  the  Choephori  the  meeting 
of  the  brother  and  sister  works  up  gradually  to  the  climax  of  the  recog- 
nition, and  during  the  long  kommos  in  which  the  spirit  of  the  dead  is 
invoked  and  the  living  nerved  to  their  work  of  vengeance,  Orestes  and 
Electra,  siinin  -  at  either  side  of  the  grave  ^  or  grouped  in  some  way 


*  T.  G.  Tucker  in  his  edition  of  the  Choephori^  p.  xxxvii,  gives  the  following  stage 
directions:   "The  scenic  grouping  appears  to  be  this.     At  the  foot  of  the  mound,  to 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


113 


on  its  steps,  must  have  presented  to  the  eyes  of  the  spectator  a  veritable 
tableau,  which  the  vase-painter  could,  if  he  wished,  take  over  and  repro- 
duce on  the  surface  of  his  pottery.  In  the  Eumenides,  after  the  two 
speeches  of  the  Pythian  priestess,  —  the  one  merely  an  introductory 
prayer,  the  other  descriptive  of  the  horrors  she  has  witnessed  within  the 
sanctuar}%  —  the  interior  of  the  temple  is  revealed  and  the  group,  ter- 
rible in  its  effect,  of  the  distraught  and  blood-flecked  Orestes  clinging 
to  the  navel  stone  in  the  midst  of  the  sleeping  furies,  is  suddenly  flashed 
upon  the  vision  of  the  spectators.^  Here,  indeed,  was  a  picture  that 
through  the  medium  of  the  emotions  it  aroused,  etched  itself  upon  the 
very  souls  of  the  spectators.  The  Agame?n?wn  offers  no  single  moment 
that  can  compare  with  either  of  these  for  pictorial  effect.  Splendid  as 
must  have  been  entrance  of  Agamemnon  from  a  spectacular  point  of 
view,  with  the  prophelc  -^  Cassandra  mounted  upon  the  chariot  and  the 
host  of  warriors  and  townspeople  following  the  home-coming  lord,  it 
depended  for  its  effect,  in  all  probability,  on  those  very  elements  that 
the  vase-painter  was  least  able  to  reproduce,  —  the  shifting  play  of  color 
and  the  restless  movement  of  the  crowd.  With  the  entrance  of 
Clytemnestra  commences  a  scene  of  unequalled  tragic  horror,  but  of  a 
horror  not  patent  to  the  senses.  Into  the  tissue  of  her  highly  colored 
address  she  weaves  a  dark  thread  of  sinister  meaning  and  creates  before 
our  eyes  that  web  of  words  with  which  she  strangles  the  suspicions  of 
the  king,  even  as  later  she  ensnares  his  limbs  with  the  net  of  her  devis- 
ing, the  ancLpov  dfjL<f>LfiXrf(rTpov.  ^o  kindred  art,  much  less  that  of  the 
mere  decorator  of  vases,  could  hope  to  reproduce  this  scene. 

But   when   we    come    to   the    actual    murder,   which    Clytemnestra 
describes  with  perfect   directness  and  terrible  clarity,  we  might  expect 


either  hand,  stands  the  chorus,  with  the  Coryphaeus  in  the  middle.  At  the  summit 
on  one  side  of  the  monument  stands  Orestes,  and  on  the  other  Electra. ' '  Perhaps 
the  less  formal  arrangement  found  on  the  terra  cotta  relief  in  Berlin,  published  in 
Monttvtenti  IneJiti  delP  Instituto  di  Corrispondenza  Archeologica^  VI,  pi.  57.  2,  might 
be  considered  equally  appropriate  and  somewhat  more  suggestive  of  the  mood  of 
exaltation  that  pervades  the  scene.  Pylades  sits  on  the  lowest  step  of  the  crrave 
monument.  Above  are  Orestes  and  Electra  with  arms  entwined.  Orestes  di  »».  iiis 
sword,  to  dedicate  it  at  his  father's  tomb. 

^  Scholium  to  Eum.  64:  crpa4>ivTa.  ykp  fiTjxavi^fjiaT a  ii'dr-\a  ^-o.?.  -i  a  0  -o 
fxavrehv  ws  Ci^'  '^"■^  yiverai.  6\l/ii  rpayiKifij  t6  (Jjkv  |i0os  ^,.^;...  ►..  t  .  ^a-n^i^ 
*0p4arT}%,  cd  8^  mJ/icXy  (ppovpovaau  airrbv. 


i  14 


Hetty  Goldman 


■s)!H' 


a 


/!!   .  i 


to  find  ih       net  ir- aied  by  the  vase-painter.     Scenes  of  conflict  were 

r     k   ii      1  ulptor  and  painter  delighted  in  depicting.    And 

\  :^    V    r  ii      A*  vises  that  can,  with  any  fair  amount  of  probability, 

u  ;    ^  '     the  subject,  and  these  are  quite  unrelated  to  the 

\c       ).as.     A  small  picture  in  the  interior  of  an  Attic  cylix 

!  j '  ib  n  i  with  considerable  dramatic  feeling.    It  has  the  essential 

r  !  ense.     ^^o  see  Clytemnestra  bent  on  the  destruction 

01  r.  r  husband,  rush  iil'  ve  in  hand,  towards  the  bathroom  door. 
}i  '.  ipart  from  the  fact  that  the  vase  has  all  the  characteristics  of  the 
bcvcic  red-figured  style  and  can  hardly  be  dated  later  than  about 
470  n.c,  the  weapon  that  she  carries  in  the  play  of  Aeschylus  is  a 
s.v  ;  '  not  in  axe.^  The  other  picture  (III)  shows  a  woman  threaten- 
11^  a  fallen  warrior  with  an  axe  or  a  kind  of  flail.*  The  most,  I  think, 
that  can  be  said  is  that  this  may  represent  a  very  much  generalized 
version  ut  ihc  uiuider,  although  the  youth  of  the  warrior  and  the  fact 
that  he  is  helmeted  argue  against  this  interpretation.  The  flying 
drapery  is  introduced  solely  to  give  weight  to  the  left  half  of  the  com- 
position, quite  in  the  manner  of  the  Parthenon  metopes  or  the  Dexileos 
monument,  and  cannot  be  supposed  to  represent  the  garment  in  which 
Aui  -''ininn  was  entangled,  iicre  then  there  is  nothing  to  suggest 
Am  n\it  Hi  influence,  although  the  vase  was  painted  after  the  produc- 
tion of  the  t'!=  :\ 

But  may  there  not,  after  all,  be  something  in  the  manner  of  Agamem- 
non's death  that  made  it,  artistically  speaking,  an  undesirable  subject 
for  the  vase-painter?  I  think  an  examination  of  the  only  extant 
monuments  on  which  this  is  faithfully  portrayed  will  supply  the  answer. 


^  The  Roman  numerals  refer  to  the  list  of  monuments  on  pp.  155  ff. 

*  Aesch.  Cho.  loio  f . :  naprvpei  5^  /xot 

<j>apo<i  t6S' ,  cJs  t^a\p€v  Alyiadov  ^^0os. 

Ag.  1529  f.:  ^L4>o5r]\Tf)T<f) 

davdrq}  rlffai  direp  ^p^ev. 

The  references  are  to  Sidgwick's  Aeschylus  (Oxford  Classical  texts).     See  Warr,  on 
*' Clytemnestra' s  weapon,     m  Class.  Rev.  XII  (1898),  348  ff. 

^  Robert,  Bild  und  Lied,  p.  178,  refers  the  picture  to  the  Oresteia  of   Stesichorus. 

*  !  'I  r.  on  the  analogy  of  a  group  on  the  Iliupersis  cylix  (Louvre  G  152),  pub- 
i  h  1  n  Furtwangler  und  Reichhold,  Die  griechische  Vasenmalerei ,  i  !  ;}.  sees  in 
!!{  \  utirt-  Andromache  slaying  a  Greek.  The  type  is  certainly  the  s  it  does 
;                 :  t  a>;  jj)      t   that  account,  to  consider  the  subjects  identical. 


* 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


115 


\'c 


A  series  of  Etruscan  cinerary  ums^  represent  the  murde- 
They  do  not,  it  is  true,  accord  strictly  with  the  Aeschylean 
here  Aegisthus  is  the  actual  perpetrator  ui  the  deed  :  1  Ci)  lemiie-iri 
merely  comes  to  his  aid  armed  with  a  piece  of  (urn  *  -  ^esembiiiiu  n 
foot-stool,  snatched  up  under  the  sudden  urn  'b:  on  of  passion  :i  i 
hate.  But  this  divergence,  fundamental  from  a  mythological  and  dra- 
matic point  of  view,  is  negligeable  in  a  discussion  of  the  composii  on 
of  the  scene.  U:.  the  best  of  these  as  regards  artistic  merit  IX  K 
Agamemnon,  his  head  and  arms  completely  involved  in  the  eiiciinil)er- 
ing  garment,  has  fled  to  the  household  alt  ',  where  Aegisthus,  sword  in 
hand,  seizes  him  from  the  left,  while  Clytemnestra  runs  up  from  the 
other  side,  ready  to  dash  against  the  ensnared  victim  the  foot-stool  she 
holds  raised  above  her  head.  A  wuiged  1  ui)  wiui  diawn  hwt  ri  to 
the  left  and  a  servant  hiding  in  terror  behind  the  open  door  to  the 
right  complete  the  composition.  The  picture  is  well  conceived,  has 
dramatic  unity,  and  is  executed  with  considerable  boldness  and  life, 
and  yet  the  total  effect  is  far  from  pleasing.  What  in  the  telling  makes 
a  supremely  pathetic  appeal,  the  helpless  entanglement  in  a  taearherous 
garment  of  the  mighty  hero  whose  foot,  in  tiu  vo-^is  oi  his  faithless 
wife,  had  trampled  Ilium,^  when  presented  to  the  i  .  fails  entirely  to 
arouse  a  similar  emotion.     This  muffled  figure,  '»   save  for  the 

feeble  effort  at  resistance  made  with  the  right  arm,  ■     1  by  itself,  1- 

essentially  unbeautiful,  and  when  piutruded  into  the  \er\  ^aitt  of  a 
scene  of  violent  action  breaks  that  rhythmic  movement  11  *  :i  wHh  h 
the  inner  harmony  of  the  composition  depends  quite  as  much  as  upon 
the  proper  balance  and  disposition  of  parts.  On  anothei 
where  the  garment  is  thrown  over  the  head  of  the  seated  V, 
in  a  manner  to  suggest  rather  a  passive  than  a  helplessly 
figure,  the  effect  is  nothing  short  of  lud; 


.  r       II'""!  ■' 


,;(■■ 


»  Brunn,  Urne  Etrusche,  I,  pi.  LXXIV,  LXXXV,  4. 

*  Ag.  906  f . :  p-Tf)  x^l^^  Tidels 

rhv  ffbv  irSS*,   ufva^,  'IXiov  iropOi^opa. 

^  A  detailed  discussion  of  the  urns  hardly  f'N   .1  inn  the  scope  of  this  artidCf  but 
I  should  like  to  suggest  that  this  picture,  in    %  «  nnestm   alone   •   aks  th 

attack  on  Agamemnon,  is  in  reality  no  more  dependent     ii    \         v 
It  is  merely  an  abbreviation  of  the  larger  scene,  as  is  e\id  :  t 
too,  she  carries  the  foot-stool,  a  weapon  with  which  she  cio     .  ar  : 
carry  out  a  murder  single-handed. 


J'ln.T'i  I  fit' 


I        T      ^^ 


Hetty   Goldman 


a  Greek  vase-painter  might  have  treated  the  subject  with  more  skill 
than  the  Etruscan  artisans  who  made  the  cinerary  urns,  he  could  never, 
T  think,  lu  ^  worked  it  into  a  telling  and  harmonious  group.  And  it 
\in:>{  l)c  remembered  that  the  superiority  of  the  Greek  to  the  Etruscan 
consisted,  at  least  in  part,  in  the  avoidance  of  essentially  inartistic 
subjects.  The  Etruscan  attempted  everything,  the  Greek  only  what 
was  best  suited  to  the  medium  in  which  he  worked.  It  may  not  be  going 
too  far  in  speculation  to  suggest  that,  had  the  scene  been  actually 
represented  and  the  net,  the  hUrvov  "AtSov,  introduced,  it  would  have 
been  done  somewhat  in  the  manner  of  Polygnotus,  who  reduced  all  such 
artistically  discordant  elements  to  a  refined,  but  vague,  and,  it  must  be 
added,  according  to  modern  feeling,  rather  meaningless  symbolism.  To 
us  the  figure  of  a  woman  in  a  swing  would  fail  adequately  to  suggest 
the  tragic  end  of  Phaedra  by  hanging,  or  two  youths  seated  on  a  rock 
the  punishment  of  Theseus  and  Pirithous  in  the  lower  world. ^ 

But  if  the  first  drama  of  the  trilogy  fails  to  show  any  point  of  contact 
with  subsequent  vase-painting,  it  has  at  least  one  retrospective  reference 
that  throws  an  interesting  light  on  the  persistence  of  types  in  ancient 
art.  1  think  there  can  be  little  doubt  that,  in  the  passage  describing  the 
sacrifice  of  Iphigenia,  Aeschylus  is  recalling,  and  not  creating,  a  picture  ; 
and  if  this  be  so,  the  central  group  of  a  composition,  already  so  well 
known  in  the  year  458  «.c.  that  Aeschylus  could  stimulate  the  interest 
of  his  spectators  by  a  reference  to  it,  reappears  on  a  wall-painting  at 
Pompei.     The  poet  says  :  ^ 

<f>pd(T€v   8'   do^oi5    Trarrjp   /otcr'   €V)^av 
SiKav   x^Axaipas    vTr€pOe   ftay/xov 

r*~\ouTt    TTipLTTCTrj    TraVTL    dvjJLiji 

Ka^elv  6.€p- 
Sr)v^   OTO/xaTo's   t€  KaWnrpijo- 
pov   <f}v\aKa    KaTaa)^civ 
<f>6oyyor   dpalov   oikol^, 

i^  /3a(f>a<;   8'   €s   TreSoi/  )(€ovcra 

*  IKaCTTOV    OvTYj- 


'  Fansanias  10,  29,  3  and  9. 


«  4^.  231  ff. 


i 


T/ie  Oresteia  0/  Aeschylus  1  i  7 

•nptTTOvcra.  ^*   ok   €v   ypa<^al?,   TrpocrcwcTrciv 

BiXoVCr  ,     CTTCt     TToAAaKtS 

rraTpo'i    kut     avopojvas    cvr^art^    lS 
c/xeAi/^ev,    ktA. 

Apart  from  the  distinct  reference  in  TrpcVovo-a  0'  ws  ev  ypacjxiU^  I  think 
there  may  be  a  reminiscence  of  the  painting  in  the  words  KpoKov  ^a<^s. 
Aeschylus  uses  adjectives  of  color  very  sparingly,  although  it  must  be 
added,  on  the  other  hand,  that  a  saffron  robe  was  the  conventional 
dress  of  royal  maidens.^ 

The  Pompeian  wall-painting  (I)  in  which  Iphigenia  is  raised  by  two 
attendants  in  the  manner  described  by  Aeschylus  has  certain  character- 
istics that  mark  it  as  an  eclectic  composition.  There  is  in  t.  c  vhole  a 
rather  formal  but  by  no  means  obtrusive  symmetry,  and  although  the 
figure  of  the  nymph  bringing  the  stag  is  clearly  introduced  in  order  to 
balance  that  of  Artemis,  this  is  done  in  no  mechanical  fashion.  The 
goddess,  who,  enthroned  upon  the  clouds,  has  been  watching  the  prepa- 
rations for  the  sacrifice,  seems  suddenly,  upon  the  more  merciful  prompt- 
ings of  her  heart,  to  summon  her  attendant  with  the  stag  by  an  imperious 
gesture.  The  nymph  arrives  with  streaming  hair  and  swelling  draperies 
that  indicate  the  rapidity  of  her  flight,  while  below  the  praying  maiden 
and  hesitating  seer  seem  to  hear,  although  they  do  not  comprehend,  the 
saving  presence.  Furthermore,  the  entire  absence  of  background  in  the 
picture,  when  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  symmetrical  arrange  lieiil 
of  the  central  group,  argues  for  an  early  prototype.  These  are  (  ii  -ac- 
teristics  of  the  art  of  the  fifth  century;  but  the  attitiulc  of  A-  n   n 

suggests  at  once  the  famous  picture  b}  !  a.nanthes  of  Sicyoii,  in  which 
the  painter,  having  expressed  in  the  surrounding  characters  every  p^rada- 
tion  of  sorrow  and  horror  at  the  cruel  fate  of  the  maiden,  \e.iw  1  :  iii 
the  eyes  of  the  spectators  the  father's  inexpressible  irrief.  The  Vom- 
peian  artist,  therefore,  appears  to  have  combined  r; ments  from  ^  rctk 
art  of  the  fifth  and  the  early  fourth  century.^  That  he  1.  -  r^  ^  a  1 
in  fusing  them  one  can  hardly  maintain,      i    e  very  introe  a    :  lae 

veiled  Agamemnon  into  this  scene  rests  upun  a  inisunder-a.iaa  a^  ul  tiic 


'  Cf.  Eur.  Phoenissae  1491  (Dindorf).    Antigone  says:    aroKu - 

Tpv<f>as. 

2  The  date  of  Timanthes  is  usually  given  as  about  4<X)  B.C. 


f 


ii8 


Hetty  Goldman 


original  painting  of  Timanthes.  What  impressed  and  puzzled  the  ancient 
critics  in  the  painting  of  Timanthes  was  not  the  fact  that  the  face  was 
veiled  in  grief,  but  that  the  painter  had  chosen  this  means  of  depicting 
the  climax  of  grief.  Pliny  says  :  ^  "  Iphigenia  oratorum  laudibus  cele- 
brata,  qua  stante  ad  aras  peritura  cum  maestos  pinxisset  omnis  praeci- 
pueque  patruum  et  tristitiae  omnem  imaginem  consumpsisset,  patris 
ipsius  voltum  velavit  quem  digne  non  poterat  ostendere."  Quintilian 
alone  seems  to  have  understood  that  the  peculiarly  moving  power  of  this 
manner  of  portraying  excessive  emotion  lay  in  its  appeal  to  the  imagina- 
tion, for  he  says  :  ^  "  Nam  cum  in  Iphigeniae  immolatione  pinxisset 
tristem  Calchantem,  tristiorem  Ulixen,  addidisset  Menelao  quem  sum- 
mum  poterat  ars  efficere  maerorem,  consumptis  affectibus  non  reperiens 
quo  digne  mode  patris  vultum  posset  exprimere,  velavit  eius  caput,  et 
suo  cuique  animo  dedit  aestimandum."  Furthermore,  logically  speaking, 
the  father  can  abandon  himself  wholly  to  grief  only  when,  as  in  the 
Iphigenia  at  Aulis  of  Euripides  and  the  painting  of  Timanthes,  the 
daughter  acquiesces  in  her  fate.  But  in  the  Pompeian  fresco  she  pours 
forth  her  plaints  to  heaven  and  Agamemnon  ought  to  forget  his  grief, 
as  he  does  in  the  pki)  ui  Aeschylus,  in  fear  of  the  curse  her  words  may 
bring  upon  the  house.  Moreover,  Agamemnon,  standing  apart  at  the 
left  of  the  picture,  shows  as  little  artistic  as  psychological  relation  to  the 
rest  of  the  group ;  but  omit  that  figure  and  the  really  beautiful  inner 
harmony  of  the  scene  is  at  once  apparent.  The  arms  of  Iphigenia, 
raised  in  supplication,  and  the  upturned  eyes  of  the  bearded  attendant, 
seem  to  unite  the  upper  and  the  lower  half  of  the  picture,  much  as  in 
tht'  '-IVansfiguration"  of  Raphael  the  pointing  hand  of  the  disciple  and 
the  convulsive  gaze  of  the  epileptic  boy  link  the  scene  in  heaven  with 
that  on  earth.  There  is,  however,  every  probability  that  Agamemnon 
was  depicted  in  the  original  composition,  only  in  a  manner  less  incon- 
sistent with  its  spirit  and  with  artistic  unity. 

With  this  picture  we  come  to  the  end  of  the  scant  material  offered 
for  our  study  by  the  Agamemnon.  At  the  opening  of  the  Choephori 
we  are  immediately  met  by  a  different  problem.  The  material  at  hand, 
though  apparently  abundant,  is  of  an  exceedingly  elusive  kind.  What 
ought  really  to  be  connected  with  the  play  of  Aeschylus,  and  what 


»  Pliny,  //.  N.  35,  73. 


'^  Quintilian,  2,  13,  13. 


Oresteia  oj  Aeschylus 


9 


merely  represents  a  similar  scene  taken  from  the  daily  life  of  the  people, 
from  those  ceremonies  connected  with  the  cult  of  the  dead  that  we  see 
recorded  on  the  Athenian  white  lecythi?  This  is  the  question  we  must 
continually  ask  ourselves,  for  the  same  motifs  are  apparciuiy  u:>cii  to 
illustrate  both.  The  identification,  however,  of  the  particular  theme 
with  the  general  subject  in  the  work  of  t^i;  vase-painter  only  reflects  a 
deeper  identity  that  lies  at  the  heart  of  the  play.  Here  in  the  scene  in 
which  the  newly  united  brother  and  sister  join  with  the  chorus  in  sum- 
moning the  unappeased  spirit  of  Agamemnon  to  help  them  in  tne  work 
of  vengeance  that  must  be  executed  in  his  name,  Aeschylus  gives  the 
supremely  poetic  and  final  expression  to  the  primitive  Greek  idea  con- 
cerning the  dead.  That,  in  all  its  savage  intensity,  it  actually  represents 
the  belief  of  his  own  day  one  can  hardly  affirm.  It  does  give,  how  , 
in  a  highly  wrought  form,  the  quintessence  of  what  lay  at  the  root  of 
popular  religion  and  inspired  the  customs  and  beliefs  pictured  by  the 
painters  of  funerary  vases.  The  Greek  of  the  fifth  century,  with  a  total 
disregard  of  that  logic  which  only  enters  religion  when  the  systematizing 
theologian  begins  to  blur  the  traces  of  its  manifold  and  unreconciled 
origins,  thought  of  the  dead  as  at  once  removed  to  the  lower  world  and 
residing  in  his  tomb.  In  the  lower  world  he  led  a  shadowy  and  help- 
less existence ;  in  the  tomb  he  was  a  powerful  daemon  whose  tendency 
towards  maleficent  interference  in  the  affairs  of  the  living  could  be  re- 
strained only  by  constant  attention  to  his  needs.*  Therefore  these  cere- 
monies at  the  tomb,  these  ornamental  fillets  and  wreaths,  and  offerings 
of  food  and  drink.  Doubtless  the  Greek  peasant  returning  from  market 
to  his  country  home  at  dusk  and  passing  through  the  Ceramicus  and 
out  at  the  Dipylon  gate,  many  a  time  believed  that  he  had  seen  the  dead 
mournfully  seated  upon  the  steps  of  their  tombs,  in  the  dejected  attitude 
the  vase-painter  has  made  iamiliar  to  us. 

It  is  this  conception  of  the  dead  as  a  powerful  tomb-haunting  daemon 
that  Aeschylus  has  emphasized  in  the  Choephori.  Here  the  moving 
force,  the  actual  hero  one  might  say,  is  just  this  spirit  of  the  departed 
crying  out  for  vengeance  from  the  grave  Hhcre  he  resides,  working  for 


'  Cf.  A.  Fairbanks,  Athenian  White  Lekythoi,  p.  354:  ''The  objects  which  seem 
to  be  for  the  use  of  the  dead,  whether  placed  in  the  tomb  or  brought  to  the  grave 
monument,  indicate  that  the  wants  of  the  dead  were  conceived  as  practicalK  _;  icai 
with  the  wants  of  the  living." 


120 


Hetty  Goldman 


the  destruction  of  his  murderers,  and  not  Orestes  "  prompted  to  his 
revenge  by  heaven  and  hell "  and  following  unwillingly  in  the  wake  of 
an  overmastering  fate.  On  one  of  a  series  of  Roman  sarcophagi,^  going 
bnrk  |)rubably  to  some  famous  Greek  painting,^  the  ghost  of  Agamem- 
non, mysteriously  shrouded,  actually  appears  at  the  door  of  the  tomb, 
and  beside  it  sleeps  a  Fury  holding  the  axe  of  Clytemnestra.  Here  the 
painter  has  not  illustrated  the  play ;  he  has  given  an  illuminating  inter- 
pretation of  its  spirit.  We  cannot  expect  as  much  of  the  mere  artisans 
who  decorated  the  vases. 

Yet,  despite  the  very  general  way  in  which  the  vase-painter  has 
treated  his  theme,  there  are  certain  points  in  the  characterization  of  the 
individuals  that  he  never  forgets.  The  relative  importance  of  Orestes 
and  Pylades  is  always  carefully  indicated.  The  figure  of  Py lades  is 
placed  in  a  position  of  less  prominence  —  he  plays  the  part  of  the  com- 
panion, the  willing  but  not  vitally  interested  friend,  while  on  the  purely 
sepulchral  vases  the  figures  bringing  offerings  are  usually  ranged  sym- 
metrically at  either  side  of  the  tomb.  Electra  too  is  distinguished  from 
her  attendants,  either  by  the  signs  of  mourning,  —  the  short  hair  and 
the  black  robe,  —  or  by  the  prominence  of  her  position  in  the  centre  of 
the  composition,  or  yet  more  subtly,  by  the  indication  of  the  ravages  of 
grief  and  ill-treatment  that  make  Orestes  recognize  her  among  the 
band  of  mourners  and  exclaim  :  ^ 

kqX  yap  *HX€KT/oav   SoActu 
aruxuv  dScX^T^v  rr}v  ifjLrjv  TrevOei  \vypw 
TrpCTTOvcrav. 

A  detailed  examination  of  the  vases  will,  I  think,  bear  out  these  general 
statements. 

The  very  opening  of  the  play,  the  arrival  of  Orestes  and  Pylades  at 
the  tomb,  is,  I  believe,  depicted  on  a   Campanian   amphora   in    the 

i;r  :    ;    Museum  (VI).'*     On  the  ground,  m  front  of  a  grave  monument 


^  The  sarcophagi  are  all  discussed  in  K.  Robert,  Die  antiken  Sarcophagreliefs^ 
Vol.  II,  pp.  165-177,  pi.  LIV-LVI. 

2  O.  Benndorf,  Annali  deW  Instituto  di  Corrispondenza  Archeologica^  XXXVII 
(1865),  pp.  --off. 

^   Cho.  1  >    \>. 

^  The  caa'   .aie  of  the  British  Museum  pves  no  mythological  interpretation  of  the 


scene. 


\ 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


121 


in  the  shape  of  an  Ionic  column  standing  on  a  high  plinth,  a  youth  is 
seated  clasping  a  staff  between  his  hands.  Before  him,  to  the  left  and 
on  slightly  higher  ground,  stands  another  youth  with  hansn'ng  pilos,  a 
spear  in  his  right  hand  and  a  sheathed  sword  in  his  left.  A  chlann-^  -s 
draped  over  his  left  arm.  He  seems  to  be  addressing  the  spirit  m  the 
tomb.  On  the  Berlin  relief  ^  Pylades  is  similarly  seated  in  front  of  the 
grave,  quite  in  the  spirit  of  Aeschylus,  a  witness,  but  in  no  sense  a 
participant  in  the  scene.  If  both  youths  were  merely  worshippers  at 
the  grave,  the  careful  differentiation  between  the  two  could  have  no 
meaning,  but  for  Orestes  and  Pylades  it  is  altogether  admirable.  After 
the  long  journey  Pyaldes,  not  inspired  by  the  larger  emotions  that  ex  lit 
and  sustain  his  friend,  sits  down  wearily  upon  the  ground.  If  the  ancient 
shepherds  were  as  prone  to  take  their  noonday  rest  in  the  shade  of  some 
convenient  monument  as  are  their  modern  descendants,  the  vase-painter 
may  very  well  have  taken  this  figure,  which  has  a  certain  genre-like 
charm,  from  life,  and  not  have  borrowed  it  from  his  storehouse  of 
inherited  types.  Orestes,  on  the  other  hand,  moved  by  the  sight  of  his 
father's  grave,  and  conscious  of  his  personal  danger,  invokes  the  help 
of  Chthonian  Hermes  and  addresses  the  dead  spirit  :- 

Tv/x/Sov   8*   €7r    O)(0uj   Ta)8c   K-qpvaau)  iraTpi 
kXvciv,    aKovcraL. 

Although  made  in  Campania,  the  picture  probably  brings  us  nearer  to 
the  time  of  Aeschylus  than  is  at  first  apparent,  for  it  belongs  to  a  class 
of  vases  modelled  in  shape,  technique,  and  treatment  on  the  Attic 
Nolan  amphora.^  Did  the  vase-painter  in  this  case  take  over,  ready 
made,  the  subject  as  well  as  the  form  ?  One  cannot  say  with  certainty, 
although  there  is  something  in  the  refinement  and  delicacy  of  the  faces 
and  the  purity  of  outline  in  the  figures  that  argues  strongly  in  favor  of 
this  supposition. 

The  two  vases  that  Overbeck*  wishes  to  associate  with  this  opening 


>  A/on.  delP  Inst.  VI,  pi.  57,  2. 

2  Cho.  4  f. 

3  Cf.  H.  B.  Walters,  History  of  Ancient  Pottery,  I,  p. 
peculiar  fabrics  which  we  may  also  attribute  to  a  Campanian 
Nolan  amphorae  reproducing  both  their  form  and  their  scht 


''Tbere  are  a  few 
n  .  .  .  imitations  of 
f  decoration." 


*  J.  Overbeck,  Gallerie  heroischer  Bildwerke,  p.  684,  No.  7;   p. 


jy 


A- 


122 


Hetty  Goldman 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


123 


scene  can,  I  think,  be  placed  here  only  by  a  rather  strained  mythological 
interpretation.  They  show  two  youths  at  a  grave.  On  one  vase  they 
merely  stand  at  either  side  with  an  urn  between  them ;  on  the  other 
they  are  making  offerings  of  a  wreath  and  a  cake.  It  is  true  that  two 
male  figures  are  rarely  depicted  at  a  tomb  in  a  purely  sepulchral 
connection;^  on  the  other  hand,  the  bringing  of  offerings  by  Pylades 
vv  i  1  be  entirely  out  of  keeping  with  the  subsidiary  role  he  is  made  to 
play  in  the  ti  1  Iv  :  and  as  there  is  no  attempt  to  differentiate  the  two 
in  attitude  or  tu  suggest  that  one  participates  in  the  rites  more  fervently 
than  the  other,  I  think  the  interpretation  as  two  ephebi  at  a  stele  is 

preferable. 

With  the  withdrawal  of  Orestes  and  Pylades,  Electra  appears  on  the 
scene,  followed  by  a  chorus  of  women  in  wild  lamentation.  A  hint  of 
the  gestures  that  accompanied  this  parodos,  although  not  reflected  in 
any  of  the  vases  connected  with  the  trilogy,  may  be  found  in  a  sepul- 
chral statue'-^  that  has  come  down  to  us,  depicting  a  woman  who  wails 
and  tears  her  hair,  and  in  the  figures  on  certain  white  Athenian  lecythi.^ 
But  according  to  the  words  of  the  poet,  the  grief  of  the  chorus  took  on 
an  even  more  violent  and  varied  form  than  art  could  depict :  * 

taAros    €*<    8o/xa)i/   t^av 

Xohsi    TrpOTTO/XTTO?    O^VX^tpt    (JVV    KTVTTiO, 

TT  -n-aprji^    cfyoLVLOis    d/u,vy/u,ois 

«i  ;        <t    VCOTO/XO), 

8l    alu)vo<:   8*  ivyfX0L(TL  f^odK^rai   K€ap, 
Aa/ctScs   €<f>XaSov  vtt    oAyco-tv, 

TTpOCTTepVOl    <7T0X/X0t 

TTCTrXoiV  dycXao'Tois 
ivfx<f>opal<:   TTCTrXT/y/xcvcDV. 


1  A.  Fairbanks,  Athenian  White  Lekythoi,  p.  351:  "  ii.  ^^uraance  with  Greek 
practice  the  offerings  are  ordinarily  brought  by  women;  it  is  very  rare  to  find  two  men 
at  the  tomb,  though  one  of  the  figures  is  usually  a  man  who  seems  merely  to  watch 
what  is  going  on."     Murray,  White  Athenian  Vases  in  the  British  Museum^  pl.  V, 

|vHirv:-r.  shnw^  two  Tu^n  'H  this  position. 
'  jlct!,  dcW'  In..'.  \.  \\.  44. 
3  1  li!  inks  gives  u  i.-^..  of  these  on  p.  352  of  his  Atn:  m^in  White  Lekythot- 

*    '  \  .  22  ff. 


1 


A  rfnglc  vase  (VII),  on  which  the  picture  is  divided  between  the  two 
sides,  shows  the  moment  just  before  the  meeting  of  brother  and  sister. 
A  woman  with  her  chiton  drawn  up  over  head,  is  engaged  in  tying  a 
taenia  about  a  stele  (inscribed  Af  AM  E)  which  stands  on  a  three-stepped 
base.     Opposite  her  another  female  figure  holds  a  basket  vi   '  • 

On  the  reverse  two  youths  are  depicted,  both  with  chlamys  an<i  'ru- 
ing petasos,  and  carrying  long  staves.  The  one  seems  to  hold  bacK, 
while  the  other,  Orestes,  advances.  This  reluctance  on  the  pa  f 
Pylades  to  participate  in  the  coming  scene  of  recognition  is  simply  but 
effectively  indicated,  and  gives  a  touch  of  individuality  to  a  composition 
that  otherwise  approximates  very  closely  to-  the  general  type  of  vases 
with  sepulchral  themes.  The  veiled  woman  is  of  course  Electra^  and 
the  other  probably  an  attendant,  although  the  name  of  Chrysothemis 
has  been  suggested  for  her. 

When  we  come  to  the  actual  meeting,  and  the  scene  that  rises  to  a 
climax  in  the  joyful  greeting  of  brother  and  sister  and  the  dedication  of 
Orestes  to  the  deed  of  murder  and  revenge,  we  find  that  art  had  antici- 
pated the  work  of  Aeschylus,  and  formulated  it  in  a  group  remarkable 
for  the  profound  expression  of  feeling.     The  conception  can  y 

have  been  original  with  the  maker  of  the  small  and  badly  mutilated 
relief  from  Melos  (VIII),  but  must  represent  either  the  culminatirai  <:)f 
a  type  that  had  been  long  developing,  or  the  creation  of  some  single 
great  artist.     The  relief  was  probably  made  before  the  year  460  B.C. ; 
but  even  if  it  could  be  dated  later,  the  place  of  its  manufacture  and  the 
fact  that  it  diverges  in  certain  important  details  from  the  Aeschylean 
version,   prohibit   our    establishing   any  connection  betw-en   the   two. 
Electra  (inscribed  AAEKTP)  is  shown,  seated  in  deepd- ."on  on  \n<: 
step  in  front  of  a  grave  stele  (inscribed  AM  EE).     Her  legs  are  cros 
and  she  leans  her  head,  which  is  veiled,  on  her  left  hand.     A  pitcher 
for  pouring  libations  is  at  her  feet.     Behind  her  stands  an  oLi   .voman 
likewise  veiled,  evidently  the  nurse.     From  the  opposite  side  thr.  e  iiu  n 
approach.     The  foremost  has  one  foot  raised  on  the  steps  of  the  monu- 
ment, and,  leaning  over,  is  about  to   touch  Electra's  arm,  while  the 
second,  at  some  distance,  holds  his  hand  thoughtfully  to  his  chin.    The 


'  Electra  is  similarly  veiled  on  the  earhest  t 
scene,  the  terra  cotta  from  Melos,  and  on  a  series  of  vases  froi. 


124 


Hetty  Goldman 


thud  with  the  baggage  on  his  back,  evidently  a  servant,  shows  no  signs 
of  participating  in  the  scene.     The  horse  in  the  foreground  indicates 
that  they  are  travellers.     In  spite  of  archaic  severity  and  poor  preserva- 
tion, the  emaciated  figure  of  Electra,  with  its  inwardness  of  grief,  its 
absorption  in  thoughts  of  consuming  melancholy,  breathes  a  certam 
spirit  of  ruined  nobility  that  we  look  for  in  vain  on  the  works  of  the 
later  vase-painters.     They  are  not  keyed  emotionally  to  so  high  a  pitch, 
nor  are  they  so  direct  and  concentrated  in  exression.    Although  Robert* 
gives  the  name  of  Talthybius  to  the  man  leaning  over  and  touching 
Electra  on  the  arm,  I   think,  purely  as  a  matter  of  feeling,  that  the 
tenderness  of  the  gesture  belongs  rather  to  the  brother  than  to  the 
old  servant,  and  the  argument  that  the  second  youth,  because  he  is 
obviously  the  most  distinguished  of  the  three,  must  therefore  be  Uiestes, 
as  Robert  maintains,  does  not  seem  cogent.     I  prefer  to  follow  those" 
who  see  in  the  three  men  Orestes,  Pylades,  and  a  servant.     With  this 
interpretation   the   beauty  and   consistency  of  the  gamut  of  emotions 
becomes  at  once  apparent,  ranging  as  it  does  from  the  stolid         :      le 
servant  tr.  the  sympathetic  aloofness  of  Pylades,  and  rising  lo  a  climax 
in  the  joyful  eagerness  of  Orestes,  thus  brought  into  immediate  contrast 
with  the  intense  gloom  of  the  unconscious  Electra.     We  have  here  a 
conception  of  the  recognition  scene  based,  in  all  probability,  as  Robert* 
has  shown,  on  the  Oresteia  of  Stesichorus  and  antedating,  though  not 
by  many  years,  the  drama  of  Aeschylus. 

What  then,  we  may  ask,  did  the  Aeschylean  trilogy  do,  either  to 
^^^,^^p  ^^,,a  popularize  what  was  already  in  existence,  or  to  modify  it 
n  i  Tin-  it  into  .inaer  accord  with  the  version  of  the  play?  Strange 
to  say,  we  must  answer  :  At  the  time  of  its  production  nothing  at  all. 
A  single  vase  (IX)  (  f  ♦lie  second  half  of  the  fifth  century  preser%es  the 
tradition  of  the  relief,  but  in  a  form  that  has  lost  both  in  individuality 
and  intensity,  and  approximates  rather  to  the  scheme  of  the  funeral 
lecythi.  Tf,  as  Robert  holds,  this  type  of  mourning  womai  u  v  ongi- 
nnllv  ^  :■- :^"d  to  illustrate  the  myth  oi  kv-  -  -■^■'^  l-j-rtM.  -:■:,  it 
appears  early  to  have  been  divorced  from  ^  h  :         i  to  a 


1   1      !         r     Bild  und  Liedf  ^.  167. 

5  A.    C.'/..    Annali   delP   Inst.,    'V-'-    W-    340-34^:    "^' 
Miscellen,"  Sitzungsber.  d.  k.  bayr.  Akad.  d.  l^Vtss.  zu    :  *.. 
•  K    R       rt,  op.  cit.t  chap.  V. 


Brunn,   "Troische 

'87,  p.  269. 


18^ 


f 

I 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus  125 

variety  of  themes.'     Electra  becomes  the  prototype  of  all  sorro«-ing 
women.     She  appears  as  the  defunct,  mournfully  seated  on  the  steps  of 
her  tomb,  or  as  the  faithful  servant  placed  above  her  mistress's  grave  ^ 
Penelope  bidding  farewell  to  Telemachos,'  and  the  mother  parting  from 
her  warrior  son,"  are  no  other  than  the  original  Electra.     But  another 
view  IS  possible.     The  terra-cotta  relief  may  represent  the  application 
to  a  particular  myth  of  a  type  that  at  its  inception  had  only  a  general 
funerary  significance.^     Robert,  however,  has  shown  that  the  group  of 
Thanatos  and  Hypnos  carrying  a  dead  body  was  originally  created  to 
illustrate  the  Sarpedon  myth,  and  later  received  a  more  general  applica- 
tion to  sepulchral  scenes ; «  and  as  there  is  no  actual  proof  of  a  contrary 
process  having  taken  place  in  the  case  of  the  Electra  type,  the  weight 
of  evidence  seems  to  be  on  the  side  of  Robert's  theory. 

The  single  vase  from  the  fifth  century  that  illustrates  the  legend  of 
Orestes  and  Electra  in  a  manner  recalling  the  terra-cotta  relief  is  a  white 
Athenian  lecythus  in  the  British  Museum  (IX),  here  published  for  the 
first  time  (Pi.«t.  I).'     It  is  in  such  a  poor  state  of  preservation  that  we 
must  resort  to  the  catalogue  description  for  the  details  of  color  and 
costume.     The  drawing,  as  far  as  can  be  judged,  is  rather  angular  and 
lacking  in  freedom.     Electra  (the  name  was  originally  inscribed)  sits 
on  the  upper  step  of  a  stele  with  one  foot  drawn  up  on  the  lower  step 
resting  her  left  arm  and  right  elbow  on  her  raised  knee,  and  supporting 
her  chin  on  her  right  hand.     She  wears  a  black  sleeveless  chiton  and  a 
red  himation.     Orestes  (name  also  originally  inscribed)  stands  before 
her  to  the  left,  and  extends  his  right  hand  as  if  in  conversation.     He 

'  Robert,  /,■//./  „„,/  /.W,  p.  169,  n.  18:  '■  Wenn  ein  Zusammenhang  zwischen 
.len  attechen  Grab-Lekythen  wirklich  vorhanden  ist,  so  wurde  ich  mich  keinen 
Augenbhck  scheuen,  daraus  die  Konsequenz  zu  dehen,  dass  der  ursprunglich  fur 
Orestes  and  Elektra  geschaffene  Typus  auf  Scenen  des  tagUchen  Lebens  ubertragen 


sei. 


^  A.  Furtwangler,  Collection  Sahouroff,  pi.  XV-XVII. 
^  Mon.  deir  Inst.  IX,  pi.  42. 


^  Museo  Gregoriano,  II,  pi.  19  (ist  ed.);    II,  pi.  24  (2d  ed.). 
VV  vvit''  '^^  ^^'^^  ^'^Pressed  by  Furtwangler,   Coll.  Sabouroff,  Vol.  I,  text  to  pi. 

®  K.  Robert,  Thanatos,  pp.  4  ff. 

'  For  permission  to  publish  this  vase  and  for  the  photograph  from  which  the  plate 
was  made  I  have  to  thank  Mr.  H.  B.  Walters. 


126 


Hetty  Goldman 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


127 


wears  a  short  chiton,  chlamys,  and  petasos  hanging  at  the  back  of  his 
neck.     To  the  right  is  an  attendant  carrying  a  large  box  or  basket  in 
her  right  arm  and  lifting  the  drapery  from  her  shoulder  with  the  left 
hand.    Possibly  it  is  due  to  the  influence  of  the  Choephori  of  Aeschylus 
that  the  old  nurse  is  now  consistently  eliminated  from  the  scene,  and 
the  youthful  attendant  substituted.     This  figure,  with  the  rather  mean- 
ingless gesture,  becomes  popular  on  South  Italian  vases,  and  seems  to 
have  been  developed  from  that  of  a  woman  lifting  a  corner  of  her  veil. 
Both  the  general  resemblance  in  type  and  the  essential  difference  in 
spirit  between  this  vase  and  the  relief  are  at  once  apparent.     On  the 
vase  the  climax  is  over,  the  recognition  has  taken  place,  and  Orestes 
and  Electra  are  found  in  conversation  with  one  another.     On  the  relief, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  are,  as  it  were,  suspended  between  two  moments 
representing  the  emotional  extremes  of  joy  and  despair.     Electra  is  still 
plunged  in  gloom,  but  let  her  feel  that  touch  upon  her  arm  and  she  will 
be  raised  to  the  heights  of  unbounded  joy  that  in  the  play  call  forth  the 
restraining  words  of  Orestes  :  ^ 

Ivlov   ycvoO,  xap^   ^«   /^^  VTrXayiJ?  ^pkva%. 
One  other  vase  (X)  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  fifth  century,^  on  which 
the  figures  are  drawn  in  a  large  and  noble  style  reminiscent  of  Phidian 
art,  probably  shows  the  same  scene,  but  the  scheme  of  the  composition 
differs  from  that  of  the  Melian  relief.    Electra,  seated  sideways,  towards 
•   the  right,  on  the  plinth  of  a  grave  stele,  looks  up  at  Orestes  who  stands 
before  her  leaning  on  a  staff.     Her  hair  is  shorn,  and  she  wears  no 
veil.     IMdently  they  are  conversing,  for  her  right  hand  is  extended  in 
an  expressive  gesture.     On  the  left  side  of  the  stele  a  servant  holds 
a  basket  of  wreaths  and  taeniae.     Here  even  the  attitude  of  dejection 
that  indicated  in  a  certain  measure  the  mood  of  Electra  has  been  aban- 
doned.    She  expresses  neither  the  joy  of  the  moment  nor  the  sorrow 
of  her  past  life,  and  the  scene,  like  the  gatherings  of  sacred  characters 
in  Renaissance  art,  has  been  generalized  to  the  extent  of  representing 
a  mere  "Conversazione." 

With  the  end  of  the  fifth  century  and  the  decline  of  the  potter's  art 
in  Attica,  we  are   forced   to  return  to  Italy  in  our  search  for  further 

^   Cho.  233. 

2  A.  Fairbanks,  White  Athenian  Lekythoi,  p.  138,  dates  it  about  425  B.C. 


I 


material,  and  an  amphora  (XI)  in  Naples  seems  to  mark  the  transition 
from  the  old  to  the  new  style.  Although  it  has  the  characteristics  of 
Lucanian  vase-painting,^  especially  in  the  large  type  of  head  and  some- 
what coarse  physiognomies,  the  combination  of  dignity  with  grace  in  the 
attitude  of  the  figures,  and  the  simple  lines  of  the  drapery,  suggest,  if 
not  direct  influence,  at  least  reminiscences  of  Phidian  art.^  The  com- 
position speaks  for  itself  without  the  inscriptions,  which  are  open  to 
suspicion.^  Electra  sits  towards  the  left,  on  the  base  of  a  stele  inscribed 
with  Agamemnon's  name  and  surmounted  by  a  helmet.  The  left  leg  is 
slightly  raised,  and  she  clasps  the  knee  in  an  attitude  of  mild  and 
dreamy  dejection.  Above  her  stands  an  attendant,  exactly  in  the  pose 
of  the  one  on  the  Athenian  lecythus  IX.  Orestes  and  Pylades 
approach  from  the  right,  the  former  somewhat  in  advance  and  extend- 
ing his  right  hand  as  if  addressing  Electra,  although  there  is  nothing  to 
indicate  that  she  gives  heed  or  is  even  aware  of  his  presence.  A  youth, 
seated  above  at  the  extreme  right,  undoubtedly  introduced  merely  to 
fill  an  unpleasing  void,  may  be  interpreted  as  a  follower  of  Orestes.  It 
is  at  once  apparent  that  the  treatment  of  the  theme  has  again  gained  in 
individuality.  Even  omitting  the  inscriptions  (the  spurious  addition  of 
which  is  proof  of  the  strong  suggestion  contained  in  the  picture),  we 
are  in  no  danger  of  seeing  in  it  merely  a  grave  ceremony  taken  from 
the  daily  life  of  the  people.  With  the  introduction  of  Pylades  the 
group  now  contains  only  those  figures  that  the  scene  of  the  Choephori 
requires,  and  I  think  we  are  at  last  justified  in  perceiving  a  distinct 
connection,  though  not  necessarily  through  the  medium  of  the  stage, 
between  the  drama  and  vase-painting. 

A  series  of  Lucanian  vases,  so  closely  connected  in  subject  and  style 
as  undoubtedly  to  be  the  product  of  one  factory,  if  not  the  work  of  a 
single  artist,  shows  a  somewhat  different  treatment  of  the  theme,  but  one 


'  Characteristic  of  Lucanian  ware  are  the  rosette,  the  arms  hung  up  in  the  field  to 
fill  space,  and  the  use  (on  the  reverse  of  this  vase,  published  in  Inghirami,  Vasi  Fit- 
tilif  II,  pi.  138)  of  small  round  stones  to  indicate  the  ground  line. 

*  A.  Furtwangler,  Masterpieces  of  Greek  Sculpture,  p.  108,  refers  to  a  class  of 
vases  in  Southern  Italy  that  "  shows  clearly  how  strong  was  the  influx  of  Athenian  art 
into  Magna  Graecia  in  the  Phidian  period,  and  how  powerful  was  the  stimulus  it  gave 
to  fresh  production." 

^  H.  Heydemann,  Vasensammlungen  zu  Xeapel,  No.  1755,  considers  the  inscrip- 
tion "Agamemnon"  and  possibly  "Electra"  genuine. 


j2g  Hetty  Goldman 

which,   I   think,  can  only  be  adequately    explained   by   reference    to 
Aeschylean  conceptions.     I  shall  discuss  them  in  the  following  order : 

Lucanian  calpis,  Naples  2858  (XII). 
Lucanian  calpis,  Munich  814  (XIII). 
Lucanian  amphora,  published  by  Inghirami,  pi.  153  (XIV). 
Lucanian  amphora.  Louvre  544  (XV),  here  published  for  the 
first  time  (Plate  II).' 
The  composition  of  XII  is  the  most  extended  and  contains  all  the 
elements  that  appear,  with  only  slight  modifications,  on  the  other  vases. 
In  the  centre  Electra,  veiled,  her  head  supported  by  her  r.ght  hand,  sits 
on  the  steps  of  a  funeral  monument  in  the  form  of  an  Ionic  column. 
A  taenia  tied  about  the  shaft,  a  variety  of  vases,  a  black  taenia  and  a 
pomegranate  lying  on  the  three-stepped  base  -f> -'^ '"f  «^^  "T^ 
nature  of  the  ceremonies  that  have  been  performed.     To  the  left  of  the 
grave  stands  Orestes  with  a  spear  in  his  left  hand  and  a  ph.ale  extended 
in  the  other,  while  Hermes  occupies  the  corresponding  position  to  the 
right      He  is  placed  upon  the  base  of  the  tomb,  and  leaning  on  his 
kerykeion,  crowns  the  column  with  a  wreath.     Pylades  is  seated  at  the 
left,  under  the  handle  of  the  vase ;  he  turns  his  head  to  look  towards 
the  centre.    He  holds  a  spear  in  one  hand  and  a  large  pilos  in  the  other. 
A  bearded  man  with  a  staff  stands  directly  behind  Hermes,  and  a  similar 
figure,  wearing  a  close  fitting  cap  and  likewise  carrying  a  staff,  is  seated, 
facing  the  centre,  on  a  sack  tied  together  at  one  end.    He  occupies  the 
space  under  the  right  handle.     The  figure  of  a  nude  youth  at  the  left, 
and  that  of  a  servant  holding  an  alabastron  at  the  right,  complete  the 
composition.    All  the  figures,  with  the  exception  of  Orestes  and  Electra 
who  are  drawn  in  three  quarter  view,  look  towards  the  centre.     For  a 
vase  of  so  late  a  date  the  grouping  is  strangely  symmetrical ;  nor  is  the 
picture  animated  by  any  unifying  idea  that  would  tend  to  counterac 
the  unpleasing  impression  of  its  formal  arrangement.     Electra,  in  spite 
of  the  advent  of  her  brother,  and  although  placed  at  an  angle  that  of 
necessity,  makes  her  aware  of  his  presence,  maintains  the  dejected 
attitude  appropriate  to  the  opening  of  the  play.     Orestes,  on  the  other 


.  Permission  to  publish  this  vase  and  the  photograph  from  which  the  plate  was 
made  were  obtained  through  the  kindness  of  M.  Edmond  Pott.et. 


I'l.AlK    II 


I 


Okksiks,    1\i  kci  k  \,    \\ii   lli.kMi.s   Ai     I  in:    r»>Mi:  « >i    At;\MK\i\M\ 
LrcwiAN   Ami'IK'KA,  Lni  \kk  544 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


129 


hand,  is  pouring  a  libation,  a  ceremony  he  could  not  have  performed 
until  after  the  recognition  had  taken  place.^  If,  as  has  been  suggested, 
an  effigy  or  emblem  of  Hermes  was  actually  placed  at  the  tumulus  when 
the  play  was  performed,^  his  presence  here  on  the  vase  is  doubly 
accounted  for,  although  the  fact  that  he  is  invoked  by  both  Orestes  and 
Electra  would  seem  sufficient  explanation  :  * 

Orestes.     'Ep/x^   ^ovit^    Trarpo)*   €7ro7rT£va)»'   Kparrj^ 

aiOTTjp   ycvov  fiOL  ^vfi/jui^^o^   r    aiTov/xevo). 
Electra.     Krjpv$  fiiyLO-Tt    tu)v  dvo)   re   kol   Kara), 

*Ep/a^   )^06vL€^    Krjpv$a<;   e/xot, 

Tovs    yi/s   evepOc  Satfiova^    kXvclv  c/xas 

cv;(as    .    .    . 

The  introduction  of  a  nude  youth  into  a  scene  in  which  he  is  obviously 
out  of  place,  merely  in  order  to  provide  a  counterpart  to  the  female  ser- 
vant at  the  extreme  right,  does  not  show  the  inventive  power  of  the 
artist  in  a  favorable  light.  There  is,  however,  an  imaginative  touch  in 
the  figure  of  the  retainer,  whose  foreign  appearance,  in  combination 
with  the  baggage  upon  which  he  is  seated,  at  once  suggests  the  further 
development  of  the  plot :  the  disguise,  by  means  of  which  Orestes  and 
Pylades  penetrate  into  the  interior  of  the  palace.''  In  the  bearded  man 
immediately  behind  Hermes  we  must  probably  see  the  Paedagogus  and 
admit  into  an  Aeschylean  scene  a  character  derived  in  all  probability, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  from  the  Electra  of  Sophocles.  No  other 
interpretation  suggests  itself,  and  yet  it  is  difficult  to  explain  his  presence 
on  any  other  ground  than  the  deliberate  choice  of  the  vase-painter ;  for 
by  a  slight  shifting  of  the  remaining  figures  the  composition  could  easily 
have  been  extended  to  its  present  dimensions,  and  the  decorative 
requirements  equally  well  fulfilled.  He  does  not  reappear  on  any  of  the 
vases  that  represent  abbreviations  of  this  picture. 

On  XIII  the  composition  is  reduced  to  seven  figures.     Pylades  and 
the  Paedagogus  are  omitted,  the  retainer  with  the  baggage  transferred 

*  The  pouring  of  a  libation  by  Orestes  is  not  alluded  to  in  the  text  of  the  play.     It 
might,  however,  have  taken  place  during  the  kommos  without  special  mention. 

*  T.  G.  Tucker,  The  Choephori  of  Aeschylus^  p.  xxxii:   "  The  opening  scene  is  the 
tumulus  of  Agamemnon  with  an  effigy  or  emblem  of  Hermes.' 

3   Cho.  I  f.  and  124  ff. 

*  Cf .  Huddilston,  Greek  Tragedy  in  the  Light  of  Vase-paintings,  p.  50. 


i^Q  Hetty  Goldman 

to  the  left,  and  a  seated  female  attendant  holding  a  box  takes  his  place 
on  the  right.  The  attitude  of  Hermes  is  the  same,  but  he  now  stands 
on  the  ground  instead  of  on  the  step  of  the  monument,  and  Orestes 
holds  a  pitcher.     There  are  unessential  modifications  in  the  poses  of 

the  end  figures. 

Only  four  of  the  characters  are  present  on  XIV.  To  the  right  of 
Electra  stands  Hermes,  identical  with  the  one  on  vase  XH,  except  that 
the  right  hand  holds  no  wreath.  The  servant  at  the  extreme  right  of 
XH  and  XHI  has  been  moved  to  a  position  directly  behind  Hermes, 
and  now  lifts  her  drapery  with  the  left,  and  an  alabastron  with  the  right 
hand.     Orestes,  with  a  cantharus  in  his  hand,  occupies  the  left  field. 

The  picture  on  XV  (Plate  H),  which  consists  of  only  three  figures, 
—  Electra  seated  on  a  high  five-stepped  monument,  surmounted  by  a 
Doric  column  supporting  a  crater,  with  Orestes  to  the  left  and  Hermes 
to  the  right,  —  appears  to  be  an  excerpt  from  the  larger  composition  of 
XHI,  from  which  it  differs  only  in  unessential  details.  Orestes  holds  a 
cylix'  and  the  position  of  Electra  is  slightly  shifted  towards  the  left. 
On  all  the  vases  there  are  minor  variations,  which  I  have  not  noted,  in 
the  shape  of  the  monument  and  the  nature  and  number  of  the  offerings 
and  vases  placed  upon  the  steps. 

It  would  be  idle  to  seek  for  a  basic  composition  among  a  series  of 
pictures  in  which  the  elements  are  rather  aligned  than  composed,  and 
the  meaningless  figures  of  serving  men  and  women  represented  in  pre- 
ference to  characters  of  such  primary  importance  in  every  version  of 
the  myth  as  Pylades,  who  is  omitted  on  all  but  the  most  comprehensive 
treatment  of  the  story  (XII).     Electra  is  everywhere  the  same  figure  of 
gentle  and  resigned  melancholy,  pensively  leaning  her  head  upon  her 
hand.      She  is  still  the  direct  descendant  of  the  old  Electra  of  the 
Melian  relief,  but  one  feels  that  she  has  survived  rather  as  a  type  than 
as  an  individual ;  for  all  the  stem  and  tragic  intensity  has  vanished  with 
the  emaciated  form.     Here  the  limbs  are  rounded,  the  body  gracefully 
bent  under  the  weight  of  affliction.     She  appears  rather  a  burdened 
than  a  bitter  and  rebellious  spirit.     This  emotional  attenuation  is  the 
price  she  has  had  to  pay  for  her  long  apprenticeship  as  the  universal 
-.       of  mourning,  during  which  she  seems  to  have  been  recreated  in 
;     milder  spirit  of  the  ideas  which,  towards  the  middle  of  the  fifth  and 
in  the  fourth  century,  centred  around   the  conception  of  the  dead. 


\\ 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


131 


« 


% 


That  the  vase-painters  of  Southern  Italy  were  capable  of  more  dramatic 
feeling,  the  pictures  connected  with  the  Etanenides  will  show. 

The  servant  seated  on  the  baggage  offers  the  link  that  binds  the 
picture  most  closely  to  the  Choephori^  for  by  his  presence  emphasis  is 
laid  on  a  feature  that,  so  far  as  we  know,  is  purely  Aeschylean,  and  one 
upon  which  hinges  the  whole  development  of  the  plot :  the  disguise  of 
Orestes  and  Pylades  as  Daulian  merchants.^ 

A  vase  (XVI)  that  shows  the  moment  before  the  recognition  ought 
perhaps  to  have  been  commented  upon  earlier,  but  I  have  relegated  it 
to  this  position  because  the  type  of  the  Electra  connects  it  very  closely 
with  the  series  we  have  just  been  discussing.  She  is  seated  in  the 
familiar  attitude  on  the  steps  of  an  aedicula,  holding  a  large  jar  in  her 
lap.  Orestes,  with  a  gesture  indicative  of  surprise  and  pleasure,  ap- 
proaches from  the  right,  while  Pylades,  with  a  nice  sense  of  differentia- 
tion is  made  to  stand  quietly  on  the  other  side  of  the  monument  and 
look  back  upon  the  scene.'-^ 

By  the  help  of  this  picture  we  may  interpret  another  (XVII),  which, 
at  the  first  glance,  seems  rather  to  reflect  the  version  of  Sophocles  than 
that  of  Aeschylus.  Compared  with  the  somewhat  dull  adherence  to  a 
type,  one  might  almost  say  to  a  formula,  in  some  of  the  vases  reflecting 
the  Choephori,  this  one  is  vivified  by  an  imaginative  strain  of  unusual 
freshness  and  charm.  The  artist  has  here  succeded  in  giving  a  poetic 
suggestion  of  the  momentary  emotion  without  introducing  the  note  of 
exaggeration  that  mars  so  many  of  the  dramatic  vase-paintings.^  The 
grave  monument,  bound  with  a  black  taenia,  occupies  the  extreme  left 
of  the  picture,  and  Electra,  a  noble,  rather  matronly  figure  in  a  black 
chiton,  her  hair  cut  short,  stands  beside  it,  looking  towards  Orestes,  as 
if  his  arrival  had  interrupted  her  ministrations  at  the  grave.  She  holds 
a  black  taenia  in  the  right  hand,  and  a  large  hydria  ornamented  with  a 
taenia  and  branches  in  her  left  arm.  Orestes  leans  forward  upon  his 
spear,  and  looks  smilingly  into  his  sister's  eyes,  as  if  trying  to  draw  from 
her  a  joyful  recognition  of  his  identity.  It  is  the  moment  when  Electra, 
who  has  previously  accepted  too  confidently  the  uncertain  evidence  of 


*   Cho.  674:  OP.    ^^w)S  it.h  elfu  Aau\iei>s  iK  ^(aK^wv. 

'  This  attitude,  although  sufficiently  motivated  here,  becomes  a  positive  mannerism 
on  late  South  Italian  vases. 

^  I  refer  particularly  to  the  vases  based  on  Euripidean  and  post-Euripidean  plays. 


132 


Hetty  Goldman 


the   footsteps  and   lock  of  hair,   now   hesitates  before   the    assurance 

brought  her  by  his  words  •} 

avTov  fitv  ovv  opwo-a   SvafmOcl^   €fxe' 
Kovpav  8'   iSovaa   ttJvSc   Kr)BeLOv  rptxos 
ixvoaKOTTOvcrd  t    iv   (ttl^oktl  toI?    €/iot9 
dv€7rTCpu)0r]<i    kcISokcis    opav   €/X€. 

But,  were  it  not  for  the  evidence  of  the  vase  previously  discussed,  on 
which  she  holds  in  her  lap  a  jar  of  similar  proportions,  it  might  be 
argued  that  the  size  of  the  hydria  is  inconsistent  with  the  offices  that 
Electra  actually  performs  at  the  grave,'^  and  suggests  rather  the  moment 
in  the  £Urtra  of  Sophocles  when  Orestes,  after  having  handed  his  sister 
the  bronze  urn  containing,  supposedly,  his  own  ashes,  demands  it  back 
with  the  words  :^ 

jjiWes    To8'   ayyo9    vvv,    ottw?    to   ttuv  fxdOrj<:. 

In  reality,  however,  the  picture  shows  more  serious  inconsistencies  with 
the  version  of  Sophocles  than  with  that  of  Aeschylus.     In  the  play  of 
Sophocles  the  meeting  of  brother  and  sister  does  not  take  place  at  a 
tomb,  and  on  the  only  certain  illustration  of  his  £/eara  that  we  possess^ 
the  vLse-painter  has  avoided  any  indication  of  locality.     He  has  further 
been  at  pains  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  urn  which  Orestes  holds 
out  to  Electra  is  of  bronze,  by  giving  the  rim  a  shape  that  is  found  only 
in  metal  vases,      i  think,  therefore,  that  the  inspiration  of  our  vase  may 
be  sought  far  more  justly  in  the  lines  I  have  quoted  from  the  Choephon. 
Must  we  still  recognize  Orestes  and  Electra  on  a  bell-crater  in  the 
British  Museum  (XVIII)  ?    Perhaps  so,  although  we  have  travelled  very 
far  away  from  the  tragic  conception  of  Aeschylus.     Electra,  in  a  some- 


1    Cho.  225  ff.  .        ,  „    r    u» 

'•>  In  the  play  she  is  evidently  thought  of  as  pouring  a  hbation  from  a  small,  light 
vessel,  for  she  inquires  of  the  chorus  whether  she  is  to  throw  it  away  {^Cho.  96  ff.)  : 

^  o-rV   driiJLOJS,  uxTirep  o^v  dirJiXeTO 

Trar^p,   rdd'   iKX^aaa,  ydirorov  x'^^ru', 

<rT€ixw,   Kaddpfxad'   ws  tis  iKir^/xxpas,  irdXiv 

dtKovaa  reOxos  daTp6<pOi<xiv  6ixixaai.v ; 

■^  Sophocles,  El.  1205. 

^  Crater,  published  J.  Overbeck,  Gall.  Her.  Bild.,  p.  693,  No.  19.  pL  XXIX,  6; 

Inghirami,  Vast  Fittili,  II,  pi.  CXLIII. 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


133 


what  modified  form  of  the  now  familiar  attitude  of  mourning,  sits  upon 
a  very  large  striped  cushion ;  but  her  appearance,  no  doubt  under  the 
influence  of  the  love  scenes  so  prevalent  on  South  Italian  vases,  has 
indeed  undergone  a  change  ''  into  something  rich  and  strange."  Her 
hair  is  curled,  she  wears  a  radiated  ampyx,  necklace,  pendant,  and 
bracelets.  Her  elbow  no  longer  rests  upon  her  knee,  but  the  hand  is 
brought  up  to  the  veil  with  a  gesture  which,  in  combination  with  her 
adornment,  gives  her  more  the  appearance  of  a  bride  than  of  an  afflicted 
princess  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  slave.  Orestes,  with  spear  in 
one  hand  and  sheathed  sword  in  the  other,  stands  at  the  left,  and  a 
servant  or,  perhaps,  —  in  view  of  the  richness  of  her  costume  and  the 
jewelry  she  wears  —  Chrysothemis  at  the  right,  with  mirror  and  pyxis. 
The  vase  has  been  introduced  into  the  discussion  more  for  the  sake  of 
tracing  the  continuity  of  type  than  because  it  stands  in  any  inner  rela- 
tion to  the  Choephori} 


^  I  have  not  included  the  discussion  of  an  interesting  unpublished  Campanian 
amphora  {Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts  Report,  1899,  p.  84,  No.  99-540)  in  the 
main  part  of  this  article,  because  it  cannot  be  connected  with  the  Aeschylean  version. 
In  fact  it  does  not  coincide  with  the  version  of  any  of  the  three  great  tragedians. 
Electra,  clad  in  a  black  chiton  and  scanty  himation,  her  hair  cut  short,  appears  in 
front  of  a  house  (indicated  by  a  platform  and  a  column)  with  a  hydria  in  one  hand 
and  a  taenia  in  the  other.  Were  it  not  for  the  taenia,  one  would  at  once  connect  the 
picture  with  the  play  of  Euripides,  in  which  Electra,  as  the  wife  of  a  peasant,  goes  to 
fetch  water,  but  this  badge  of  mourning  seems  to  indicate  that  she  is  bound  for  the 
tomb  of  Agamemnon.  The  gesture  of  her  right  hand,  furthermore,  indicates  that  she 
has  caught  sight  of  Orestes  and  Pylades,  who  are  engaged  in  conversation  at  the  left 
of  the  picture  and  are  apparently  unaware  of  her  presence.  But  this  is  not  the  case 
in  any  of  the  extant  dramatic  versions.  Electra  is  always  surprised  by  her  brother, 
and  the  vase-painters  never  take  liberties  with  this  essential  feature  of  the  story.  One 
must  therefore  conclude  that  this  vase  illustrates  an  otherwise  unknown  version  of  the 

Orestes  myth. 

I  have  also  omitted  two  vases  which  Overbeck  connects  with  the  meeting  of 
Orestes  and  Electra  at  the  tomb  of  their  father,  because  I  do  not  feel  convinced  that 
they  represent  more  than  an  ordinary  funerary  scene.  On  the  first  (Overbeck,  Her. 
Bil(ho.,  p.  686,  No.  11;  Millin-Reinach,  Peintures  de  Vases,  II,  pi.  51;  Inghirami, 
Vasi  Fittili,  II,  pi.  156;  Raoul-Rochette,  Monumens  inidits  d'  antiquite  figuree, 
p.  159,  n.  4)  a  maiden  with  a  taenia  and  a  platter  of  offerings  stands  at  one  side  of  a 
stele,  and  opposite  her  a  youth,  wearing  a  chlamys  and  hanging  petasos,  holds  a  spear 
in  one  hand  and  a  wreath,  with  which  he  appears  to  be  crowning  the  monument,  m 
the  other.     Two  vases  stand  on  the  base  of  the  stele  and  another  hangs  in  the  back- 


134 


Hetty  Goldman 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


135 


The  remaining  scenes  of  the  play,  into  which  so  much  of  bloodshed 
and  moving  dramatic  contrast  is  compressed,  find  no  reflection  in  the 
vase-painter's  art.  The  murder  of  Aegisthus  had  received  its  lasting 
expression  in  a  composition  formulated  before  the  days  of  the  great 
tragedians,  and,  in  all  probability,  under  the  influence  of  the  Oresteia 
of  Stesichorus.  Its  widespread  popularity  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  it 
has  survived  in  whole  or  in  part  on  no  less  than  seven  ^  vases  of  the 
early  fifth  century.  The  archetype  of  all  these  pictures  Robert  recon- 
structs in  the  following  manner:^  "Orestes,  fully  armed,  plunges  his 
sword  into  the  breast  of  Aegisthus.  Clytemnestra  rushes  to  the  assist- 
ance of  her  husband  brandishing  an  axe  ;  a  warning  cry  of  the  frightened 
Electra  .  .  .  calls  the  attention  of  her  brother  to  the  danger  that 
threatens  him  from  the  rear  and  he  glances  backward,  but  the  aged 
Talthybius  has  already  hurried  to  his  rescue  and  disarmed  Clytem- 
nestra." A  group,  combining  in  more  masterly  fashion  the  elements 
both  of  unity  and  contrast,  can  hardly  be  imagined.  Electra  and  Tal- 
thybius, at  either  end  of  the  composition,  are  united  by  the  concentra- 
tion of  their  terrified  interest  upon  the  same  point,  the  axe  of  Clytem- 
nestra ;  while  in  the  centre  the  eyes  of  the  mother,  frustrated  in  her 


ground.  On  the  second  vase  (Overbeck,  op.  cii.y  p.  687,  No.  12 ;  Inghirami,  op. 
cit.y  II,  pi.  142;  D'Hancarville,  Antiquith  etruscjucs^  grecqucs  et  romaines^  IV,  pi. 
52),  the  maiden  alone  is  busy  at  the  tomb  placing  offenngs  on  the  steps  from  a  phiale 
that  she  holds  in  her  hand,  while  the  youth,  who  has  a  spear  in  his  right  hand  and  a 
cloak  draped  over  the  left  arm,  gazes  vacantly  into  space.  The  absence  of  any  acces- 
sory figures,  such  as  usually  appear  on  the  South  Italian  vases  connected  with  the 
recognition  scene,  and  the  typical  and  unemotional  manner  in  which  the  offices  at  the 
tomb  are  performed  warrant  us  in  rejecting  a  mythological  interpretation  for  these 
pictures. 

'  K.  Robert,  Bild  und  Lied^  p.  149,  gives  six  examples,  to  which  the  fragmentary 
amphora  now  in  the  Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts  (Robinson,  Cat.  No.  419)  must  be 
added.  In  the  catalogue  description  of  the  vase,  the  scene  is  interpreted  as  the  death 
of  Orpheus  contaminated  by  the  "Aegisthus  "  type,  because  the  seated  figure  wears  a 
long  chiton  and  holds  a  lyre  in  one  hand.  But  the  picture  otherwise  corresponds  to 
the  most  complete  representation  of  the  murder  of  Aegisthus  by  Orestes  —  Talthybius, 
Clytemnestra,  and  Electra  are  all  present  —  and  Orpheus,  in  legend  and  art,  meets 
his  death  at  the  hands  of  women  and  not  of  a  man.  The  lyre  does  not  necessarily 
characterize  a  Greek  as  a  professional  poet  or  minstrel,  and  if  we  have  here  an  actual 
case  of  contamination  it  ought  surely  to  be  stated  in  the  opposite  way,  as  the  murder  of 
Aegisthus  contaminated  by  the  Orpheus  type. 

2  K.  Robert,  op.  cit.y  p.  159. 


i 


murderous  attempt,  meet  those  of  the  son,  who  plimges  his  sword  into 
the  heart  of  her  paramour,  in  a  glance  of  ferocious  hatred.  The 
dramatic  and  emotional  climax  is  complete.  As  far  as  we  know,  this 
picture  continued  to  dominate  the  popular  imagination,  even  after  a 
succession  of  dramatic  poets  had  presented  a  variety  of  versions.  So 
far  as  I  am  aware,  it  appears  only  once  on  vase-paintings  later  than  the 
production  of  the  Oresteia,  A  late  vase  from  Bari  (XIX)  represents  it 
in  the  followincj  manner.  Orestes  seizes  Aegisthus,  who  is  seated  on  a 
throne,  by  the  nair  and  stabs  him  in  the  breast.  Behind  Orestes,  Cly- 
temnestra appears  with  the  double  axe.  To  the  right,  behind  Aegisthus, 
Pylades  departs  with  drawn  sword,  and  a  woman,  resembling  Clytem- 
nestra in  dress  and  attitude,  rushes  up  with  a  foot-stool  lifted  in  her 
hand.  This,  according  to  Furtwiingler,^  must  be  Electra,  who  in  her 
passion  has  come  to  take  a  hand  ;  and  he  further  suggests  that  her  active 
participation  in  the  scene  shows  the  influence  of  tragedy  upon  the  con- 
ception of  her  character.  But  the  influence  at  work  must,  of  course, 
be  that  of  Sophocles  and  Euripides,  not  Aeschylus,  in  whose  play  she 
has  no  share  either  in  the  planning  or  the  execution  of  the  murder,  and 
appears  upon  the  stage  for  the  first  and  last  time  in  the  scene  at  the 
grave. 

Here  the  motif  of  Clytemnestra  attempting  the  life  of  her  son  is 
preserved  from  the  vases  created  under  the  influence  of  older  poetry ; 
and  this  older  type,  so  compact  and  forceful  in  expression,  was  never, 
so  far  as  we  can  judge,  replaced  by  any  inspired  by  the  writings  of 
the  dramatic  poets.^  But  Aeschylus  himself,  at  one  moment  in  the 
Choephoriy  seems  to  stand  in  a  peculiar  relation  to  this  older  version. 
Clytemnestra,  when  she  hears  of  the  murder  of  Aegisthus,  calls  out :  ^ 

hoLTf   Tis    avSpoKfxrjra   ttcXckvv    oj?    Ta;^os  * 

A  servant  departs,  and  before  he  can  reenter  with  the  weapon  Orestes 
appears,  Clytemnestra  makes  the  maternal  appeal,  shows  him  the  breast 


^   Berliner  Philologische  IVochenschrift,  1888,  p.  1451. 

'-^  Even  on  the  Roman  sarcophagi  (K.  Robert,  Die  antiken  Sarcophagreliefs^  Vol. 
II,  pi.  LIV-LVI)  which  undoubtedly  illustrate  the  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus,  Aegisthus  is 
killed  seated  iv  dp6voi.(TLv  irarpSs,  as  in  the  older  pictures.  These  sarcophagi  belong  to 
the  time  of  Hadrian  and  so  show  the  survival  of  the  motif  in  the  second  century  A.D. 

3  C/w.  889  f. 


136 


Hetty  Goldman 


at  which  he  was  nurtured,  and   throws  herself  upon  his  mercy.     ^Vhy, 
we  must  ask  ourselves,  does  Aeschylus  introduce  this  demand  for  a 
weapon  which  is  never  brought  and   plays  no  part  in  the  final  scene? 
Robert^  in  commenting  upon  the  passage  says  :  "Aeschylus  eliminated 
the  dreadful  motif  of  the  mother's  raising  her  axe  against  her  own  son, 
whom  she  may  or  may  not  have  recognized  ;  but  this  tradition  was  so 
strong,  and  had  impressed  itself  so  deeply  upon  the  imagination  of  the 
people,  that  he  felt  bound  at  least  to  refer  to  it  with  the  words  'Soi't;  rts 
avhpoKfxrJTa  TreAcKw  ws  ra^os.'    Here  we  see  the  independently  creative 
artist  in  conflict  with  poetic  legendary  tradition."     But  I  venture  to 
think  that  the  explanation  here  given  is  too  exclusively  archaeological. 
If  Aeschylus,  a  resourceful  and  daring  playwright,  really  felt  the  need,  at 
the  very  height  of  the  tragedy,  of  throwing  a  meagre  sop  to  a  possible 
conservative   element  by  thus   referring  to   older   tradition,  what,  one 
must  ask,  would  have  been  the  actual  psychological  effect  upon  the 
spectators?     Would  they  have  been  more  impressed  by  the  apparent 
concession  to  tradition,  or  by  the  contrast  between  what  is   implied  in 
the  call  for  arms  and  what  really  takes  place  when  mother  and  son  are 
brought  face  to  face?     Aeschylus,  in  thus  contrasting  the  old  savage 
motif  with  the  more    humane    one,   meant,   I   believe,   to  throw    the 
emphasis  on  the  latter,  and  by  causing  a  sudden  revulsion  of  feeling  in 
his  audience,  to  make  the  emotional  effect  of  the  scene  all  the  more 
poignant.     At  the  words  Boltj  tis  dvS/ao/c/x^ra  ttcXckw  w?  ra;(o?  a  pic- 
ture  of   the  attack  of  mother  upon  son,  much  as  we  see  it  in  the  old 
vase-paintings,  involuntarily  flashes  into  the  mind  of  the  listeners.    They 
are  prepared  for  a  scene  of  horror,  in  which  the  unnatural  ferocity  of 
Clytemnestra  enlists  all  the  sympathies  on  the  side  of  Orestes.     The 
weapon,  however,  is  never  brought.    Orestes  appears,  and  Clytemnestra, 
abandoning  all   thought  of  self-defence,  appeals  to  him  in  the  sacred 
name  of  motherhood.     For  the  moment  the  sympathies  of  the  audience 
flow  back  to  the  mother,  who  pleads,  not  alone  to  preserve  her  life,  but 
also  to  justify  it  in   the  eyes  of  her  son.     Two  primal  instincts  are 
aroused  in   Clytemnestra :    to  save  herself  from  death  and  from   the 
moral  condemnation  of  her  son.     Aeschylus  first  shows  her  to  us  as  the 
woman  of  savage  but  magnificent  courage,  brought  to  bay  by  an  enemy 
whose    identity  she   has  not  yet  recognized.      Her   spirit  is  that  of 


*  K.  Robert,  Bild  und  Lied^  p.  i6i. 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


137 


Macbeth,  who  never  so  nearly  attains  to  heroic  stature,  as  when,  aban- 
doned  and  aware  of  "the  equivocation  of  the  fiend  that  lies  like  truth,'* 
he  exclaims : 

"Arm,  arm  and  out :  — 
If  this  which  he  avouches  does  appear. 
There  is  nor  flying  hence,  nor  tarrying  here. 
I'gin  to  be  a'  weary  of  the  sun. 

And  wish  the  estate  o'  the  world  were  now  undone.  — 
Ring  the  alarum-bell.     Blow  wind  !     Come  wrack  ! 
At  least  we'll  die  with  harness  on  our  back." 

Clytemnestra  too  wishes  to  die  with  "  harness  on  her  back." 

Aeschylus,  however,  who  in  the  first  play  of  the  trilogy  emphasizes 
the  maternal  passion  of  Clytemnestra,  will  not  let  her  pass  from  the 
stage  without  a  resurgence  of  this  emotion.  But  Orestes  has  both  the 
hardness  and  the  delicate  scruples  peculiar  to  youth  and  innocence,  and 
while,  on  the  one  hand,  he  cannot  understand  or  sympathize  with  the 
temptations  that  solitude  and  a  sense  of  wrong  had  brought  to  her, 
when  she  pleads  :  ^ 

aXK    €L<f>'   6/xotws    Kal   Trarpos   tov   (tov  /xaras  * 
aXyos    yvvaiilv   dvSpo^    etpyccr^at,    tIkvoV 

he  will  not,  on  the  other  hand,  name  the  sin  she  has  committed.  When 
he  accuses  her  of  having  sold  him  and  she  demands  that  he  state  the 
price  she  received  in  return  he  says  :  ^ 

ai(T\x)voixaL  (TOi  rovr    oi'CtStcrat   crac^ws. 

Instinctive  pity,  not  understanding,  prompts  him  momentarily  to  spare 
her  life,  but  when  he  finally  fulfills  the  command  laid  upon  him  by 
Apollo  he  seems  in  spiritual  accord  with  it  and  so  responsible  for  his 

deed. 

Although  there  are  no  representations  of  Clytemnestra's  appeal  to 
Orestes  on  extant  vases,  the  design  on  an  Etruscan  mirror  (XX)  makes 
it  extremely  probable  that  the  motif  was  not  invented  by  Aeschylus,  but 
was  taken  over  by  him  from  some  poem  sufficiently  well  known  in  the 
early  part  of  the  fifth  century  to  have  influenced  popular  art.     The 


>    Cho.  918  and  920. 


2   Cho.  917. 


138 


Hetty  Goldman 


mirror  evidently  repeats  the  design  on  the  interior  of  an  Attic  cylix^ 
that,  on  stylistic  grounds,  can  hardly  be  dated  later  than  470  b.c.  The 
picture  accords  perfectly  with  the  version  of  Aeschylus,  and  the  names 
of  Orestes  (Urusthe)  and  Clytemnestra  (Clutumsta)  are  inscribed.  It 
is  possible,  but  extremely  improbable,  that  the  engraver  of  so  archaic  a 
mirror  was  sufficiently  well  acquainted  with  the  play  of  Aeschylus  to 
have  adapted  to  this  subject  a  design  originally  depicting  another  myth. 
It  is  also  to  the  Choephori  that  we  must  look,  I  think,  for  the  sugges- 
tion of  a  vase-picture  (XXI)  illustrating  no  actual  scene,  but  the  event 
that  takes  place  prior  to  Orestes's  return  and  inspires  the  action  of  the 
play,  —  his  visit  to  Delphi.  In  the  centre  Apollo,  with  lyre  in  one  hand 
and  a  laurel  branch  in  the  other,  sits  upon  the  omphalus,  which  is 
decked  with  taeniae.  Directly  in  front  of  him  to  the  left,  with  one  foot 
raised,  stands  Orestes,  his  gaze  fixed  in  rapt  and  solemn  attention 
upon  the  prophetic  god.  Over  the  left  shoulder  he  carries  a  spear  and 
in  his  right  hand  he  holds  a  sword,  as  if  consecrating  it  to  the  deed  of 
vengeance.  Behind  Apollo  appear  Pylades,  as  always  in  the  vase- 
paintings  inspired  by  Aeschylean  conceptions  a  mere  spectator,  and 
the  Pythia  seated  upon  the  tripod  and  holding  a  taenia.  A  female 
figure,  standing  close  to  Orestes,  cannot  be  named  with  any  certainty. 
The  gesture  of  her  left  hand  indicates  that  she  is  in  some  way  actively 
connected  with  the  scene,  but  perhaps  merely  as  an  officiating  priestess.-^ 


'  Cf.  H.  B.  Walters,  History  of  Ancient  Pottery^  II,  p.  307:  "Apparently  the 
red-figured  vases  which  were  imported  into  Etruria  in  such  large  numbers  in  the  fifth 
century  served  as  prototypes,  not  for  their  paintings,  but  for  the  engraved  mirrors. 
.  .  The  interior  designs  of  the  kylikes,  perfected  by  Epiktetos,  Euphrorios,  and 
their  contemporaries,  served  as  obvious  models  for  disposing  a  design  m  a  circular 
space;   and  they  had  in  the  subjects  a  mythological  repertory  ready  to  hand." 

Compare  the  attitude  of  Orestes  with  that  of  Achilles  on  the  interior  of  the  Troilus 
cylix,  published  by  P.  Hart  wig,  Die  griechischen  Meisterschalen  des  strengen  roth- 
Jigurigen  Stils,  pi.  LVIII,  LIX,  I. 

2  I  have  given  the  interpretation  suggested  by  Botticher,  Arch.  Zcit.^  i860,  pp. 
50  ff.,  which  seems  to  me  most  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  composition,  but 
scholars  have  expressed  widely  divergent  opinions.  Heydemann  (  Vasensammlungen 
ZH  Neapel^  No.  1984)  and  Jahn  (  Vasenhilder^  p.  9)  see  in  it  Orestes  consecrating  his 
sword  at  Delphi  on  his  return  from  Tauris;  Rochette  (^Mon.  Ined.^  p.  187)  and  Over- 
beck  (//<?r.  Bildw.i  p.  715)  see  in  the  scene  the  purification  of  Orestes  in  the  presence 
of  Electra  after  the  murder  of  Clytemnestra.  The  attitude  of  Orestes  and  the  calm 
expression  of  his  face  hardly  seem  consistent  with  such  an  interpretation. 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


139 


The  probable  connection  of  this  vase  with  the  trilogy  is  further  strength- 
ened by  the  fact  that  Orestes  pursued  by  the  Furies  is  depicted  on  the 

reverse. 

The  Choephori  ends  as  Orestes,  who  has  assumed  the  suppliant  s 
emblems,  the  bough  and  chaplet,  rushes  from  the  stage  pursued  in 
imagination  by  the  Erinyes  of  his  mother,  and  the  retiring  chorus  asks 
the  question  that  is  to  find  its  answer  in  the  Eumenides:^ 

TTol   SrjTa   Kpav€t,    Trot   KaTaXrjiei 
fieTaKOLfiLcrdiv  ^c'vos   arr/s  ; 

With  the  last  play  of  the  trilogy  we  come  to  the  creation  of  Aeschylus 
that  left  its  impress  most  clearly  upon  the  vase-painter's  art,  and  sup- 
plied him  not  alone  with  a  new  subject,  but  with  an  entirely  novel  type. 
For,  although  the  conception  of  the  Erinyes  belonged  to  the  most 
primitive  element  in  Greek  religion,  Aeschylus,  by  bringing  them  upon 
the  stage,  was  the  first  to  give  them  a  bodily  presentment  fixed  m  all 
the  details  of  feature  and  costume.'-^ 

In  the  speech  of  the  Pythian  priestess,  whose  tottering  reappearance 
from  the  interior  of  the  temple  and  excited  words,  from  a  dramatic 
point  of  view,  serve  admirably  to  enhance  the  atmosphere  of  foreboding 
and  suspense  that  prepares  the  audience  for  the  sudden  revelation  of 
the  interior  of  the  temple,  Aeschylus,  as  it  were,  creates  this  new  type 
before  our  mental  vision  :  ^ 

7rp6aO€v   8c    TttvSpo?    TOvBe   OavfxaaTb^   Xox^? 
cuSet   yvmiKWi/   iv   SpovocaLV   ij/xcvos. 
ouTOt   yvvatKas,    dXAa   Fopyovas    Aeyco, 
ov8'  avTC  Topy€LOi(nv  ct/cao-o)  rvVots. 
cTSJv  TTor'   rjSrj  <^tv£a)S   ycypa/x/xcms 
Mttvov   <t>cpovaas  '    aTrrcpot  yc  firjv  tSctv 
avrat,    /mc'Aatvat   S*   e?    to    ttuv  /^SeXvKrpoTroi  • 
piyKOvai   8'   ov  -irXaroiai   <j)V(TLdcrfmaLV 
€K   8*   o/x/xarcDV   XctjSovcrt   Svo-<^tA^   At^a  • 


»   Cho.  1075  f.  ^      ,     „  7  ••     9 

2  Cf     T     E     Harrison,   Prolegomena  to  the  Study  of  Greek  Rehgion\  p.   231: 
-Aeschylus  then,  we  may  safely  assert,  first  gave  to  the  Erinyes  outward  and  visible 
shape,  first  differentiated  them  from  Keres,  Gorgons,  or  Harpies." 
^  Ellin.  46  ff. 


1^0  Hetty  Goldynan 

Kttt    K6(J\i.0'i    ovT€   Trpo'S    6(.u)v   dyaX/xaTtt 
<^cpciv   StKaios    ovT    €S    avBpoiTTUiV   crreyas. 

But  we  must  avoid  a  too  unimaginative  literalness  in  trying  to  reconstruct 
for  ourselves  the  appearance  of  these  Furies.  By  adding  together  all 
the  features  of  Gorgons  and  Harpies  that  ancient  art  has  preserved,^ 
we  can  hardly  hope  to  create  a  type  that  will  actually  correspond  to 
what  Aeschylus  brought  upon  the  stage.  Horror  is  in  no  such  mathe- 
mathical  sense  the  sum  of  all  its  parts,  and  if  Aeschylus  had  really  only 
produced  a  composite  picture  of  what  was  already  familiar,  it  is  incon- 
ceivable that  he  should  have  so  terrified  his  audience.  It  is  far  more 
probable  that  the  sight  of  certain  features,  hitherto  associated  only  with 
the  supernatural,  in  combination  with  a  more  human  countenance, 
aroused  the  horror  and  disgust  of  which  exaggerated  accounts  have  come 
down  to  us  in  literature.^  What  the  essential  features  in  their  appear- 
ance were,  we  are  already  told  in  the  Choephori:^ 

SfxiDol   ywaiKCS,    atSe   Vopyovoyv   Slktjv 
<f>aLOx^TiDve<;    Kal   Tre-rrkcKTavrjfxevaL 

TTVKVOtS     hpaKOVCTLV  ' 

ava$  "AttoXXov,    atSc    TrXrjOvovaL   Or]^ 
Ka$   o/x/xarooi/   (TTa^ovaiV  al/xa    Svcrc^tXes. 

The  Pythian  priestess  adds  that  their  flesh  as  well  as  their  garments  was 
black,  and  that  unlike  the  Harj^ies,  whom  they  otherwise  resembled, 
they  had  no  wings.     Apollo  calls  them  :  ^ 

ypauxi   TtakavaX    Traidc?. 

These  features,  which  are  the  only  ones  that  the  text  of  the  play 
forces  us  to  associate  with  the  Erinyes,  all  appear,  with  the  exception 
of  the  blood  oozing  from  the  eyes,  on  one  or  another  of  the  vases  deal- 
ing with  the  flight  of  Orestes,  and  I  think  the  weight  of  this  negative 
evidence  may  at  least  be  brought  to  bear  against  the  suggestion  that 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


141 


»  This  is  the  method  of  K.  Bottiger,   "Die  Furienmaske,"   h'leine  Schriften^, 

Vol.  I,  pp.  189-277. 

«    Vita  Aeschyii,  p.  4  (Dindorf). 
3   Cho.  1048  ff.  and  1057  f. 
*  Eum.  69. 


Aeschylus  portrayed  them  ^vith  the  distended  mouth  and  protrudmg 
toneue  of  the  typical  gorgoneion.'  .      v  i      u-     „if 

Of  the  Harpies,  to  whom  he  likens  the  Furies,  Aeschylus  hun  elf 
n,ust  have  given  some  word  picture  in  his  early  play  Plunan,-  and 
Tant  monuments  have  preserved  for  us  some  indications  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  painting  that  he  refers  to  in  the  hnes : 

Selirvw  <^£pov(Tas,   aTTTcpoi  yt  ^v  iSdv, 

for  we  possess  a  series  of  vase-paintings  of  the  Phineus  myth,  beginning 
with  a  black-i^gured  cylix  and  ending  with  an  extended  composjfon  on 
an  early  Italian  amphora  of  the  fourth  century,  that  by  ---^  -"J- 
lencies  either  of  drawing  or  conception,  show  ev.dence  of  reflectmg 
the  contemporary  art  of  painting. 

On  the  cylix  of  the  sixth  century^  both  Harpies  and  Boreadae  fly 
through  the  air  propelled  each  by  two  enormous  pa.rs  of  wmgs  and 
wmged  boots.  If  Aeschylus  had  some  such  archaic  pamtmg  m  mmd,  and 
U  is  Lite  as  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  refers  to  an  o  d  and  famous 
work  as  to  a  newly  executed  one,  the  feature  most  clearly  d.sungu^h- 
ing  his  Furies  from  their  artistic  prototypes  would  certamly  be  their 

''' A  NlTlmphora  now  in  the  British  Museum,'  probably  dating  from 
the  decade  preceding  the  production  of  the  play,  although  falling  far 


I  n   Muller.  Die  Eumeniden^  p.  185. 

.  SLuTrW.  Sra..fr.s.^  fr.  .60,  gives  a  much  restored  passage  .ron,  PhUode- 

mus,  De  pietate,  p.  1 8. 

\  f  rdul'  WUr^burg,  354,  Furtwangler  und  Reichhold,  Di. gri'Ms^h'  Va.en- 
,         ;  ^  !;o  rTl      Fur  wangler  gives  an  interesting  estimate  oi  the  art.st.c 

"    r",   'he'v  se     "  UnVer  ^en  al.TrtumUchen  Darstellungen  aus  dem  d.on^.chen 
merits  of  the  vase .       l-ntf'j^  cj.  ut  unerreicht  durch  die  Lebendigkeit, 

:?sr.t:l ».« '-  ■«-:  "r- ™,.r/ '" '"  ""■'  ■"' 

.„i,„...«..  "r'tSm'';"  "rv~r^s  i. ,.  .*  n.  .=,  .^ 

»  British  Museum  E  302,  Cat.  lU,  p.  219, 


142 


Hetty   Goldman 


below  the  other  vases  of  this  series  in  artistic  merit,  suggests,  by  its 

!  '  teness,  that  it  must   be  an  excerpt   from  a  larger   picture. 

Fhineus,  enthroned  en  face  beside  the  depleted  table,  stretches  out  his 

t  arm  and  turns  his  head  toward  a  Harpy,  who  makes  off  to  the  left 

.  Ill   i  od  and  drink.     Her  equipment  for  flight  consists  of  a  single  pair 

of  wings.      The  apprehensive  glance  she  casts  backward  is  without 

meaning,  unless  we  assume  that  the  original    painting  included   the 

pursuing  Boreadae.^ 

That  a  Greek  artist  of  very  unusual  distinction  busied  himself  with 
the  Phineus  myth  eariy  in  the  second  half  of  the  fifth  century  is  shown 
by  an  oenochoe  from  Sicily,^  that  can  hardly  be  dated  before  430  or 
much  after  420  B.C.  At  the  left  of  the  picture  a  Harpy  lies  at  the  feet 
of  the  seated  Phineus,  her  limbs  relaxed  and  head  reversed  in  utter 
exhaustion  or  death.  At  the  right  two  Boreadae  bind  a  second  Harpy, 
who,  though  fallen  to  her  knees,  offers  desperate  resistance.  The 
pathos  and  the  fiery,  almost  excessive  energy  of  the  painting  awaken 
surprise  in  us  who  are  dependent  primarily  upon  sculpture  for  our  con- 
ceptions of  (}reek  art,  and  therefore  look  for  these  characteristics  in  the 
products  of  the  fourth  rather  than  in  those  of  the  fifth  century.  If, 
now,  we  compare  these  Harpies  with  the  Furies  on  a  South  Italian 
crater  of  about  the  same  date,'  we  find  the  two  almost  identical, 
both  in  general  conception  and  in  details  of  costume,  save  that  the 
former  are  winged  and  the  latter  have  snakes  coiled  in  their  hair. 
Their  features  are  beautiful  and  majestic,  without  a  touch  of  brutishness 
or  ferocity,  and  they  both  wear  short  chitons,  heavy  studded  belts  with 
crossed  shoulder  straps,  and  high  hunting  boots.     Art,  therefore,  seems 


*  J.  II.  Iluddilston,  The  Attitude  of  the  Greek  Tragedians  tou>ards  Art,  p.  16, 
says  in  commenting  on  this  vase :  "  The  painting  is  at  any  rate  but  a  very  few  years 
earlier  than  the  production  of  the  Eumcnides  and  is,  moreover,  so  closely  in  harmony 
with  the  cTSoi'  .  .  .  0epou<ra$  of  Aeschylos  that  one  is  inclined  to  coimect  the  two  in 
some  way.  It  is  not  too  much  to  conclude  that  the  two  were  dependent  on  one  and 
the  same  original."  There  is  nothing,  however,  in  this  rather  uninteresting  vase- 
picture  to  suggest  a  famous  original  such  as  we  must  assume  that  Aeschylus  had  in 
mind;  and  contemporaneousness  is  not,  I  think,  a  sufficiently  strong  argument  to 
connect  the  vase  with  the  Eumenides. 

'^  Moni4fne}iti  Antic  hi ,  XIV,  1 904,  pp.  75  ff.,  pi.  V. 

3  No.  XXII. 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


143 


to  have  accepted  the  partial  analogy  between  Harpies  and  Furies  which 
Aeschylus  indicates  at  the  opening  of  the  Eumenides} 

Perhaps  it  was  during  the  heat  of  the  first  discussions  aroused  by  the 
production  of  the  play,  that  the  idea  of  presenting  this  popular  theme 
upon  his  wares  occurred  to  the  painter  of  a  calpis  (XXV)  which  can 
hardly  be  dated  much  after  the  production  of  the  trilog)\  And  yet, 
although  the  nearest  to  Aeschylus  in  point  of  time,  it  is  by  no  means 
the  most  faithful  to  the  play.  Orestes  kneels  on  a  small  altar  composed 
of  rough  stones,  and  there  is  neither  omphalus  nor  laurel  tree  to  indicate 
that  the  scene  takes  place  at  the  Delphic  sanctuary.  His  face,  seen 
from  the  front,  has  the  distraught  and  roving  glance  of  a  maniac.  Of 
the  suppliant's  emblems  he  wears  only  the  wreath.  The  drawTi  sword 
is  here,  as  always,  in  his  hand,  and  with  his  left  arm,  about  which  he  has 
wrapped  his  chlamys,  he  tries  to  defend  himself  against  the  attacks  of 
the  onrushing  Erinyes.  Snakes  writhe  in  their  hands  and  bind  their  hair 
like  fillets.  They  are  wingless,  and  the  foremost,  who  wears  the  short 
chiton  of  a  huntress,  and  over  it  a  fringed  jerkin  with  cross  straps,  seems 
to  resemble  closely  the  Erinys  enstaged  by  Aeschylus.  The  second, 
whose  figure  was  placed  farther  towards  the  side  of  the  vase,  and  there- 
fore treated  with  less  care,  wears  only  a  sleeveless  chiton.  Artemis 
seated,  bow  in  hand,  upon  a  rock,  occupies  the  corresponding  position 
at  the  left,  and  Apollo,  standing  by  the  side  of  Orestes,  holds  a  laurel 
branch  in  his  right  hand  and  extends  the  other  as  if  to  repel  the  perse- 
cutors of  his  suppliant.  Apart  from  its  chronological  importance  the 
vase  has  little  to  commend  it.  The  drawing  is  both  awkward  and  care- 
less and  the  composition  disjointed.  Apollo's  commanding  gesture 
loses  all  significance  if  not  interposed  between  Orestes  and  his  pursuers. 
But  the  presence  of  Artemis  is  significant,  and  cannot  be  attributed  to 
the  random  choice  of  a  vase-painter  seeking  for  a  figure  to  complete  his 
group.  Had  that  been  the  case,  he  would  naturally  have  selected  one 
of  the  divinities  more  closely  connected  with  the  action  of  the  drama : 
either  Hermes,  who  is   directly   addressed  by  Apollo  in  line  90  and 


'  The  design  on  a  South  Italian  crater,  published  Mon.  deW  Inst.  Ill,  pi.  49, 
although  it  reproduces  a  Greek  original,  seems  to  have  suffered  the  contamination  of 
local  Italic  art;  hence  the  brutish  features  of  the  Harpies  cannot  be  taken  as  charac- 
teristic of  Greek  conceptions.  Daemons  of  all  kinds  in  the  native  rehgion  were  so 
represented. 


J  44  Hetty  Goldman 

strangely  enough  never  appears  on  any  of  the  vases,'  or  Athena,  who,  as 
the  dominant  character  in  the  play,  was  actually  introduced  into  a  num- 
ber of  the  Delphic  scenes.     Were  this  the  only  appearance  of  Artemis 
one   might  be   inclined  to  pass  it  over  as  accidental.     She  occupies 
a  prominent  position,  however,  on   two  of   the    finest  vases   dealing 
with  the  subject  (XXII  and  XXVI),  products,  it  is  true,  of  Southern 
Italy,  but  one  of  them  at  least  (XXII)   representing  pure  Athenian 
tradition.     In  the  play  itself,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  mention  of 
her,  not  even  in  the  opening  prayer  of  the  Pythian  priestess.     Hauser- 
suggests  that  the  goddess  may  have  been  introduced  into  a  revised 
version  of  the  play  enacted  in  Southern  Italy,  where  the  scene  on  the 
Areopagus,  full  as  it  is  of  local  patriotism,  might  have  proved  unaccept- 
able to  the  audience.     But  the  Berlin  calpis  (XXV)  is  of  Attic  make 
and   Hauser  himself  has  pointed  out  the  close  relation  between  the 
crater  (XXII)  and  Athenian  art,  and  so  we  must  seek  the  explanation 
of  her  presence  rather  in  the  tradition,  both  popular  and  literary,  that 
connected  the  twin  sister  of  Apollo  with  his  sanctuary  at  Delphi. 

The  crater  (XXII)  contains  another  feature,  the  purification  of 
Orestes,  which  seems  to  point  towards  the  connection  of  the  vase  with 
the  Eumenides  as  literature  rather  than  as  an  acted  play  ;  for  unless  we 
accept  the  possibility  of  a  pantomime  performance'  of  the  ceremony 
upon  the  stage  at  the  end  of  the  first  episode,  we  must  seek  for  the 
painter's  inspiration  in  the  lines  : ' 

/AriTpoKTOi'oi'  fXLaafjux   S*  (KirkvTov  ttcAci. 
TTOTatvLOV  yap   ov  Trpo?    co-rta   U€Ov 
^OLpov    KadapfXoU    rjkaOr]    xoipOKTOVOL^. 

There  is  everything  in  this  lovely  vase,  one  of  the  few  from  Italy  unsur- 
passed by  even  the  best  that  Attica  produced,  to  suggest  either  that  its 
decorator  was  himself  a  man  of  unusual  attainments,  or  that  his  work 
reflects  some  larger  painting.     Orestes  sits  on  the  altar  with  his  back  to 


'  This  would  lend  color  to  Verall's  suggestion  (  The  Eumenides  of  Aeschylus,  p.  Iv) 
that  Hermes  was  only  invoked  and  did  not  actually  appear  upon  the  stage. 

2  Cf.  Furtwangler  und  Reichhold,  Die griechische  Vasenmalerei,  II,  p.  332- 

3  This  is  the  suggestion  of  F.  Hauser,  text  to  Furtwangler  und  Reichhold,  Die 
griechische  Vasenmakreii  II,  p.  333- 

4  Eum.  281  ff. 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


145 


the  omphalus,  and  holds  his  right  hand  with  the  drawn  sword  towards 
his  chin.  Here,  under  the  influence  of  the  god,  madness  seems  to  have 
given  way  to  a  brooding  melancholy.  Apollo,  standing  behind  Orestes 
on  the  steps  of  the  altar,  holds  above  his  head  the  pig  whose  dripping 
blood  is  to  bring  purification  if  not  absolution  from  guilt.  At  the  right 
stands  Artemis,  in  the  usual  costume  of  the  chase,  a  quiver  on  her  back 
and  two  spears  over  her  shoulder.  At  the  left  a  Fury  emerges  from 
the  ground,  roused  by  the  ghostly  Clytemnestra,  who  appears  above, 
shrouded  and  veiled,  and  touches  upon  the  forehead  one  of  the  two 
Furies  who  sleep  in  each  others'  arms.    She  seems  to  utter  the  reproach  } 


€v60LT    dv,    ojTy,    Kol   KaOcv^ovaCjv  tl  Set; 

These  Furies,  with  their  majestic  Phidian  loveliness,  have  only  the  snaky 
locks  and  hunting  costume  to  betray  their  baleful  nature.  The  flow 
of  their  draperies  and  the  postures  of  their  limbs  seem  haunted,  like  a 
reminiscent  melody,  by  the  rhythm  of  the  sculptures  of  the  Parthenon. 
The  Fury  who  rises  from  the  ground  might  be  Ge  as  she  appears  on  the 
cylix  of  Erginus.2  The  introduction  of  the  angry  and  implacable  ghost 
of  the  murdered  mother  into  this  scene  of  purification  is  the  painter's 
means  of  suggesting  the  idea  developed  in  the  Eiofiefiides :  the  inability 
of  the  Delphic  god  to  grant  final  absolution  from  a  crime  executed  at 
his  own  instigation  and  express  command.  Artemis,  beautiful  as  she  is, 
stands  in  no  integral  relation  to  the  rest  of  the  group. 

A  crater  in  St.  Petersburg  (XXIII)  definitely  connects  the  purifica- 
tion with  the  opening  scene  of  the  play  by  introducing  the  figure  of  the 
Pythian  priestess,  holding  the  temple  key  and  in  flight  towards  the  left. 
The  artist  has  chosen  a  somewhat  earlier  moment  than  the  one  depicted 
on  the  crater  in  the  Louvre.  Apollo  appears  to  be  hastening,  with 
laurel  branch  and  phiale,  towards  Orestes,  who  kneels  upon  the  four- 
sided  altar  in  the  familiar  attitude  of  the  maddened  fugitive,  while  at 
the  right  a  winged  Fury  halts  in  her  pursuit  and  enters  into  angry  alter- 
cation with  the  god.  Here,  as  on  a  number  of  other  vases,  we  have 
introduced  into  a  purely  Aeschylean  scene  the  winged  type  of  avenging 
spirit  made  familiar  by  Euripides. 

'  Eum.  94. 

"^  Wiener  VorlegebVdtter ,  I,  pi.  5;  H.  B.  Walters,  History  of  Ancient  Pottery,  II, 
fig.   112. 


146 


Hetty  Goldman 


A  third  vase  (XXIV)  gives  the  scene  in  a  still  more  abbreviated  form. 
Only  Apollo  and  Orestes  are  actually  represented,  but  the  latter,  who 
kneels  upon  the  square  altar'  and  embraces  the  omphalus,  looks  to  the 
left  and  extends  his  drawn  sword  in  that  direction  in  a  manner  to 
suggest  the  immediate  appearance  of  the  pursuing  Fury.     In  this  way, 
although  not  actually  included  in  the  scene,  her  presence  is  mipl.ed 
and  an  element  of  suspense  rather  cleverly,  though  perhaps  accidentally, 
introduced.     Apollo,  who  is  nude  save  for  a  chlamys  draped  over  the 
left  arm,  sprinkles  the  suppliant  from  a  phiale  with  laurel  leaves.     A 
bucranium  in  the  field  further  indicates  the  temple. 

There  is  one  other  vase  (XXVI),  besides  the  two  already  mentioned, 
upon  which  the  figure  of  Artemis  appears,  and  we  seem  here  for  the  first 
time  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  an  actual  stage  representation  of  the  play. 
It  is  a  delightfully  dramatic  little  composition  in  the  style,  if  not  actu- 
allyfrom  the  hand,  of  the  painter  Assteas.^    The  artist  fairly  revels  in 
nicturesque  elaborations.     Three  ornate  Ionic  columns  supporting  an 
architrave,  and  a  conelike  omphalus  covered  with  the  asrencn ^ojoK 
suffice  to  indicate  the  Delphic  temple ;  two  tripods  are  crowded  into 
the  composition  and  the  laurel  tree  rises  from  the  temple  floor.     ^  otive 
offerings  of  chariot  wheels  and  helmets  hang  from  the  rafters.     At  the 
left  a  Fury  drawn  in  black  silouette  with  snakes  in  her  hair  and  wound 
about  her  arms,  appears  from  behind  a  column.     We  seem  to  see  her 
rushing  through  the  air  in  her  swift  but  wingless  flight : 

\mip   TC   vovTov  a7rT«poi5   7roT>7/ia<ni' 
17X601'    SlMKOVCr",    ov&v   vo-Tc'pa    Vf.Ul'i. 

Orestes,  hair  and  chlamys  flying,  has  thrown  himself  upon  the  ompha- 
lus The  Pythia  raises  her  hands  in  horror,  the  key  drops  to  the  ground, 
and  she  rushes  out  of  the  sanctuary  to  the  left.  Apollo,  clasping  his 
bow  in  one  hand  and  extending  the  other  in  a  splendid  gesture  of  com- 
mand, interposes  between  the  Fury  and  her  prey  as  if  with  the  words  : 


»  The  inscription  is  meaningless  and  modern. 

.  For  asn'lar  n,annerism  in  the  drawing  of  the  hands  and  trea.nien.  o,  the 
draply  we  may  con,pa,e  .he  Pythia  with  Megara  on  .he  cra.er  in  Madnd  represen..ng 
the  Jdness  oftleracles  (pubUshed  Mon.  Ml'  Inst.  VIII,  pi.  .0). 

3  Eum.  250  f. 

4  Eum.  179  f. 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


147 


p^wpcir',    aTraWdaa-caOc  fxavTiKisiV  fxv)(C}v. 

At  the  right  Artemis,  standing  on  tiptoe  on  a  sculptured  base/  shades 
her  eyes  and  spies  out  the  cause  of  the  confusion,  while  her  two  dogs, 
scenting  the  unholy  presence,  raise  their  heads  and  utter  a  dismal  howl. 
This  picture,  with  its  abounding  life,  its  noise,  crowding,  and  confu- 
sion, although  lacking  in  tragic  dignity,  suggests  admirably  the  excite- 
ment of  a  dramatic  performance,  and  in  the  setting,  no  less  than  in  the 
spirit  of  the  scene,  we  may,  I  believe,  see  actual  reminiscences  of  the 
stage.  In  the  economy  of  the  vase-painter's  art,  the  locality  of  the  action 
is  usually  suggested  in  as  abbreviated  a  form  as  possible.  Sometimes  a 
single  column  suffices  to  indicate  a  temple,  or  a  diminutive  building, 
introduced  into  a  corner  of  the  composition,  serves  the  same  purpose.^ 
But  here  the  three  equidistant  columns,  supporting  a  long  architrave, 
seem  to  recall  a  scenic  background.^  Whether  we  are  to  think  of  this 
as  the  proscenium  of  a  stageless  theatre,  or  as  the  superstructure  of  a 
raised  stage  it  is  difficult  to  say.  The  manner  in  which  the  Pythia  runs 
out  of  the  temple  towards  the  front  might  incline  one  to  the  former 
view,  but  it  is  futile  to  attempt  a  reconstruction  of  the  stage  from  a 
vase-picture  which,  although  reminiscent  of  an  actual  performance, 
certainly  gives  no  literal  transcription  of  a  scene.** 


'  The*  figure  of  Artemis  has  almost  the  appearance  of  an  animated  statue.  An 
archaic  statue  of  Artemis  with  two  dogs 'appears  on  the  Pompeian  wall-painting  (I) 
representing  the  sacrifice  of  Iphigenia  (cf.  \V.  Helbig,  Campanische  Wandgemlildey 

No.  1304). 

'-^  Cf.  the  vase  published  by  Stephani,  Compte-Rendu^  1872,  pi.  i,  with  a  represen- 
tation of  the  dispute  between  Athena  and  Poseidon. 

^  Cf.  the  background  on  the  "  Phlyakes  "  crater  from  Lentini,  published  Man. 
dcir  Inst.  IV,  pi.  12;    Wiener  Vorlegeblatter ,  Series  B,  pi.  Ill,  2. 

^  Attempts  to  use  the  vase  of  Assteas  representing  the  mad  Heracles  throwing  his 
child  into  the  flames  {Man.  delP  Inst.  VIII,  pi.  10)  as  evidence  concerning  the  exist- 
ence of  a  stage  in  the  fourth  century  B.C.  have  led  scholars  to  diametrically  opposed 
conclusions.  Bethe,  Jahrbuch  des  k.  deutschen  archaeologischcn  Instituts,  XV  (1900), 
pp.  66  ff.,  argues  that  we  must  consider  the  picture  as  a  reproduction  of  a  two-story, 
box-like  stage,  the  substructure  of  which  has  not  been  represented  by  the  vase-painter. 
Graef,  Hermes  36  ( 1901 ),  p.  88,  in  opposing  Bethe,  declares  that  this  vase  has  nothing 
to  do  either  with  Euripidean  or  post-Euripidean  tragedy.  Engelmann,  Archaeologische 
Studien  zu  den  Tragikern  (1900),  p.  12,  ingeniously  uses  this  and  other  vases  in 
support  of  Dorpfeld's  theory  of  a  stageless  theatre. 


148 


Hetty   Goldman 


That  a  vase-painter  could  reflect  the  influence  of  the  stage,  and  yet 
keep  himself  free  from  its  spirit  is,  I  believe,  shown  on  a  vase  (XX\  11) 
which,  while  it  mirrors  the  costumes  and  trappings  of  the  theatre, 
breathes  none  of  its  atmosphere  of  tension  and  excitement.  But  this, 
far  from  reflecting  on  the  ability  of  the  artist,  shows  h.m  rather  as  a 
man  of  independent  judgment  and  spiritual  insight.  He  chose  to  mtro- 
duce  Athena  into  the  scene  at  Delphi,  finding  the  suggestion  for  her 
presence  not  only  in  the  further  development  of  the  play,  but  i.i  the 
emphasis  laid  upon  her  connection  with  the  sanctuary  by  the  Pythian 
priestess:' 

HaXAas    Trporaiu   S'   iv  Xoyois    Trpeir/JfutTai  • 

and  he  felt  that  the  proximity  of  the  deity  who  was  to  bestow  the  final 
pardon  on  Orestes  must  free  him,  for  the  moment,  from  the  terror  of 
madness      Therefore  Orestes  does  not  kneel  upon  the  omphalus  as  the 
distraught  suppliant,  but  looks  quietly  up  at  Athena  who,  standing  at  his 
left  with  one  foot  raised,''  appears  to  bend  down  and  engage  him  in 
conversation.      She  wears   helmet  and   aegis,  in  addition  to  a  long 
cloak  and  a  chiton  heavily  embroidered  in  theatrical  fashion.     Apollo, 
with  a  long  cloak  fastened  over  one  shoulder,  stands  on  the  other  side 
of  the  omphalus  in  front  of  the  laurel  tree,  on  which  hang  taeniae  and 
votive  pinakes,  and  glances  down  at  an  insolent  Fury.     The  attitude  of 
these  two  figures  suggests  the  colloquy  that  in  the  play  takes  place  after 
Orestes  has  left  for  Athens.     About  this  Fury,  with  her  wings  of  dispro- 
portionate size,  her  ornate  costume  of  the  hunt,  and  large  coiling  snake 
seems  to  hang  the  atmosphere  of  the  property  room.     The  second 
Fury  who  appears  above  the  tripod  that  rises  behind  the  omphalus,  is 
unwinged  but  plentifully  supplied  with  snakes ;   they  encircle  her  hair, 
start  from  her  shoulders,  and  coil  in  her  hand.     A  veiled  female  half- 
figure  in  the  upper  right  hand  corner  probably  represents  Clytemnestra, 
the  spirit  hostile  to  Orestes,  while  the  corresponding  youthful  warrior  at 
the  left  may  represent  Pylades,  his  mortal  champion.    Though  the  figure 


^  Eum.  20  i.  .,,..11 

2  The  altitude  is  an  unusual  one  for  Athena.  To  my  knowledge  it  can  be  paral- 
leled only  by  the  figure  on  a  gem,  published  by  Furtwangler,  D.e  anitken  Gemmen, 
pi.  XXVII,  57. 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


149 


of  the  young  Apollo  is  a  splendid  artistic  creation  and  Athena  is  imbued 
with  truly  divine  majesty,  the  picture  has  some  minor  defects,  charac- 
teristic quite  as  much  of  the  age  and  country  as  of  the  individual  artist. 
He  is  careful  of  details,  yet  often  careless  of  reality.  The  embroidery 
of  the  robes  and  the  scales  of  Athena's  aegis  are  beautifully  reproduced, 
but  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  Orestes  could  long  maintain  his  position 
on  the  omphalus,  or  that  the  wings  of  the  Fury  were,  as  they  appear  to 
be,  attached  to  a  single  shoulder.^ 

The  same  figures  appear  in  different  grouping  on  two  other  vases. 
The  one  (XXVIII)  derives  its  chief  interest  from  the  curious  use  the 
painter  has  made  of  monumental  types.  In  the  centre  Orestes  kneels 
upon  a  high  altar,  and  to  the  right,  Apollo,  with  a  wreath  in  his  long 
curiing  hair  and  a  laurel  branch  in  his  right  hand,  leans  upon  a  pilaster 
quite  in  the  easy  manner  of  the  Praxitelean  god.^  He  glances  quietly 
at  Orestes,  but  is  not  concerned  with  the  f'ury  who  appears  to  the  right 
in  the  upper  field  of  the  picture,  wingless  and  armed  with  a  spear,  and 
seems  to  recoil  before  the  stern  glance  and  commanding  gesture  of 
Athena.^  The  extended  left  arm  of  the  goddess  is  draped  with  the 
aegis,  which  thus  serves  the  double  purpose  of  protecting  the  suppliant 
on  the  altar  below  and  repulsing  his  pursuer.  She  is  helmeted  and 
leans  upon  a  spear  with  her  right  hand.  Between  Athena  and  the  Fury 
a  small  seated  Nike  is  interposed.  She  faces  the  former  and  points 
towards  her  with  an  object,  probably  meant  to  represent  a  palm-leaf 
fan.  The  peculiar  manner  in  which  Athena  here  assumes  the  part 
properly  belonging  to  Apollo,  in  freeing  the  sanctuary  from  the  presence 
of  the  Erinyes,  hints  at  the  possibility  that  the  vase-painter  allowed  his 
choice  of  types  to  dominate  his  conception  of  the  scene,  for  the  out- 
stretched arm  of  Athena  at  once  suggests  command,  and  the  relaxed 
position  of  Apollo  the  passive  role  he  is  made  to  play. 

The  other  vase  upon  which  Athena  appears  (XXIX)  is  a  calpis  of 
late  date  and  no  artistic  merit,  interesting  only  on  account  of  the  variant 
type  of  Erinys  it  introduces.     Orestes  sits  on  the  ground  with  his  back 


*  Von  Rohden,  in  Baumeister,  Denkmdler  des  klassischen  Altertums,  p.  2007, 
attributes  the  vase  to  Assteas  or  his  school. 

2  Compare  the  statue  of  Apollo,  S.  Reinach,  Repertoire  de  la  Statuaire  grecque  et 
romaine^  I,  p.  241,  No.  948  C. 

^  Cf.  the  archaistic  statue  in  Naples,  S.  Reinach,  op,  cit.  I,  p.  227,  No.  848. 


J  CO  Hetty  Goldman 

to  the  omphalus.  He  clutches  the  leg  of  a  large  tripod  with  his  left 
hand,  and  looks  back  at  his  tormentor  who,  winged  and  dressed  in  a 
long  chiton,  holds  a  scourge'  and  is  wreathed  about  with  snakes.  In 
her  heavy  drapery  and  quiet  demeanor  she  no  longer  represents  the 
swift  pursuers,  the  wrathful  hounds  of  his  mother  as  Orestes  calls  them, 
u«Tp6,  c-vKoToc  KvV«,  but  a  kind  of  avenging  angel,  like  the  Pomae 
who  scourge  offenders  in  the  lower  world.  Apollo  sits  at  the  right 
facing  the  Fury,  and  Athena  stands  beside  him.' 

If  chronological  considerations  have  forced  us  first  to  discuss  those 
pictures  on  which  the  vase-painter  has  enlarged  upon  the  Aeschylean 
scene,  and  united  several  successive  incidents  in  order  to  P^0'1"«  ^ 
more  effective  composition,  we  have  still  to  study  a  late  vase  (X\XI) 
from  Southern  Italy  which  shows  not  only  fidelity  to  a  single  moment 
in  the  play,  but  faithfully  represents  the  Krinyes  as  Aeschylus  conceived 
them      Black-skinned,  with  scanty  white  hair'  framing  their  ugly  faces, 
and  wingless,  they  lie,  five  in  number,  sleeping  about  the  temple, -a 
small  heriion  supported  by  Ionic  columns.     The  frenzied  Orestes  mth 
sword  and  scabbard  in  either  hand  sits  upon  the  altar  embracing  the 
omphalus.     To  the  right  the  priestess  departs  with  a  backward  glance 
and  gesture  of  horror.     The  execution  is  careless  in  the  extreme,  but  m 
the  appearance  of  the  Erinyes  the  painter  has  succeded  in  suggestmg, 
with  a  realism  that  we  are  wont  to  consider  foreign  to  his  art,  the  pecul- 


.  The  scourge  in  the  hand  ol  the  Erinyes  is  not  wholly  «n-Aeschykan  Ores  es  m 
enumerating  the  punishments  with  which  Apollo  has  threatened  h.m  ..  he  fa.l  to 
avenge  his  father,  mentions  the  xaX^^Xaro,  ^Xd<rTai  of  the  Erinyes. 

3  There  k  another  vase  (XXX)  with  Athena  in  the  composition,  but  as  it  has  not 
been  published  and  its  wherealx>uts  is  unknown,  I  merely  quote  <™  'he  sake  of 
corpleteness,  the  description  from  the  CaU.loghi  Uel  M,.eo  Ca,„Mn.u  Ser.  IV,  No. 
Te  '  %  aso  l  colonnette,  figure  gialle.  Oreste  supplica  nel  tempio  d'  Apol  o.  Coperto 
di  clamide  e  col  pilo  viatorio  dietro  le  spaUe,  ha  nella  destra  la  spada,  s.  nfugta  all  ara 
d  DeU  rappresentata  da  sei  grandi  pietre.  Presso  del  mcdesimo  sta  Apollo  che  .n 
epressivo  a«o  vieta  il  progredire  piu  oltre  alia  furia  ala.a,  recante  m  cascuna  mano 
Tn  erpente.  Pallade  ancora  prende  in  tu.ela  il  figUo  d,  Egtsto  (?)  Al  d,  sopra  del 
Lpo  di  Oreste  si  vede  nel  campo  un  bucranio  colle  vine,  emblema  de.  sacnfic,  e  della 
rplebrit\  dell'  ara,  alia  quale  si  e  refugiato."  ,    .     ,    , 

' Tschylus  L.  not  actually  depict  the  Erinyes  as  white-ha.red,  but  the  sugges- 
tion  Tor  such  a  conception  is  contained  in  the  epithet  Apollo  apphes  to  them,  Eum. 
69,  7/3aiai  TraXatai  TraiSes. 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


151 


iar  repulsiveness  of  the  Aeschylean  creation.     These  creatures  have  no 
affinity  with  any  other  type.    They  are  as  far  removed  from  the  archaic 
gorgoneion  as  from  the  idealized  Furies  of  other  vase-paintings,  and 
the  extraordinarily  natural  manner  in  which  the  relaxation  of  sleep  is 
portrayed  suggests  that  the  artist  either  drew  his  inspiration  from  life  or 
copied,  however  rudely,  the  work  of  some  more  important  master. 
Their  equipment,  too,  seems  to  differ  from  what  we  have  found  on 
other  vases.    Instead  of  the  torches,  swords,  scourges,  or  even  spears  of 
other  Erinyes,  they  carry  a  short  staff  or  wand,  a  feature  that  we  know 
to  have  characterized  them,  although  it  is  never  mentioned  by  Aeschylus. 
Indeed,  if  there  is  any  truth  in  the  story  narrated  by  Lycophron,i  our 
Apulian  vase-painter  may  have  witnessed,  at  some  time,  a  curious  cere- 
mony performed  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Dardanus.     In  the 
monologue  which  bears  her  name,  Cassandra  prophesies  that  the  maidens 
of  this  village,  when  they  wish  to  escape  matrimony,  will  take  refuge  at 
her  shrine  disguised  as  Furies,  and  she  ends  with  the  words : 

KCtVats    cyo)    h-t]VQ.iov    a(l>diTO<i    uea 
pal3Srj<j>6poL<;    yvvai^lv  avS-qO-qaofiaL. 

The  remaining  vases  that  deal  with  Orestes  at  Delphi,  although  they 
bring  the  evidence  of  numbers  to  testify  to  the  hold  that  the  third  play 
of  the  trilogy  had  upon  the  popular  imagination,  offer  no  new  points  of 
view  for  our  study,  and  so,  without  multiplying  descriptions  that  must 
of  necessity  resemble  each  other  in  their  essential  features,  I  shall  select 
those  minor  details  that  seem  worth  commenting  upon. 

A  picture  (XXXII)  that  represents  the  same  moment  as  the  St. 
Petersburg  crater  contains  only  three  figures,  and  offers  a  good  example 
of  the  shorthand  that  vase-painters  sometimes  employ  when  they  wish 
to  treat  a  subject  in  a  condensed  manner.  Orestes  kneels  upon  a  box- 
like altar  and  two  laurel  sprays  in  the  field  serve  to  indicate  the  locality 
as  Delphi.  A  single  Erinys  armed  with  a  torch  and  a  curious  crooked 
sword  represents  the  host  of  his  pursuers.  The  priestess,  as  usual, 
departs  in  precipitous  alarm. 

The  artist  who  placed  a  charming  little  composition  on  the  neck 
of  a  crater  in  Berlin  (XXXIII)  has  proved  himself  more  master  of  his 
own  craft  than  of  Delphic  tradition,  for  he  has  seated  Apollo,  who  inter- 


'  Lycophron,  Alexandra^  1131  ff. 


152 


Hetty  Goldman 


poses  between  Orestes  and  the  Fury,  upon  the  tripod  of  the  Pythia,^ 
while  she  escapes  towards  the  right  accompanied  by  a  temple  attendant 
carrying  a  platter.  Here,  too,  the  impression  of  frantic  haste  in  the 
suppliant's  flight  is  conveyed  with  particular  success  by  the  convulsive, 
but  not  ungraceful,  manner  in  which  he  has  thrown  himself  upon  the 
altar  with  head  reversed  and  rolling  eyes. 

But  it  remains  for  a  toy  crater  in  Vienna  (XXXIV)  to  supply  an 
element  of  humor  that  may  not  be  wholly  unconscious.  The  vase  is 
wretchedly  executed  and  would  not  deserve  mention  were  it  not  for  its 
subject.  Orestes  kneels  upon  the  altar  in  such  a  way  as  to  interpose 
the  omphalus  between  himself  and  the  Fury,  and  so  seems  to  rely  for 
protection  rather  on  the  bulk  than  on  the  sanctity  of  the  object  he 
embraces.  A  large  dog  follows  in  the  wake  of  the  pursuer,  the  only 
visible  embodiment  upon  vase-pictures  of  the  conception  of  the  Furies 
as  hounds  of  the  chase. 

An  extended  composition  on  the  neck  of  a  crater  in  St.  Peters- 
burg (XXXV)  shows  a  charming  variety  in  the  attitudes  of  the  Erinyes, 
who  appear  in  groups  of  two  at  either  end  of  the  picture.  Orestes  is 
at  the  altar  in  the  centre,  his  divine  protector  by  his  side,  while  the 
nearer  Fury  to  the  left  rushes  towards  him  in  stormy  pursuit.  The 
further  one,  half  sunk  in  the  ground,  her  head  thrown  back  and  arm 
uplifted,  is  to  all  appearances  the  ecstatic  Bacchante,  a  type  that  the 
vase-painter,  in  his  search  for  novelty,  has  simply  borrowed.  Those  on 
the  right  have  already  entered  into  the  bitter  controversy  with  Apollo, 
and  the  one  who  stands  before  him  with  a  long  wand  might  be  uttering 
the  accusing  words  -} 

ava^  "ATroXXov,  avraKOvaov  iv  fxipu, 
avTo?  (TV  rovTUiv  ov  fxeracTLO^  TreAct, 
dXA'    eU   TO   TTcif   €7rpa$a<s    u)V   TravatTLOS* 

Upon  a  vase  in  Copenhagen  (XXXVI),  much  like  the  fifth  century 
crater  (XXII)  in  general  conception,  though  falling  immeasurably  be- 

'  Apollo  in  his  mantic  capacity  occupies  the  omphalus,  not  the  tripod,  as  Hermes 
relates  in  the  Ion  of  Euripides,  5  ff . : 

T/Ko;  5^  AeX^cDf  rrjvSe  yrjp,  'iv    SfKpaXbv 

Ijl4(Tov  KaOl^u}v  <i>oil:ios  v/xvifideT  (SporoTs, 

TO.  T    6vTa  Kal  /x^WovTa  6€(nrl^u}v  dei. 
2  Eum.  198. 


T/ie  Oresteia  0/  Aeschylus 


153 


low  it  in  execution,  the  group  is  again  composed  of  Apollo,  Orestes, 
and  the  pursuers,  one  of  whom  rises  from  the  ground  with  flying  hair 
and  snakes  writhing  about  her  arms. 

A  guttus  (XXXVII)  and  an  askos  (XXXVIII),  decorated  in  relief, 
probably  carry  us  further  into  the  third  century  than  any  of  the  other 
vase-pictures,  but  the  type  of  the  composition  remains  unaltered. 
Orestes,  with  one  knee  upon  the  ground,  embraces  the  omphalus  and 
stretches  out  his  right  hand,  armed  with  the  sword,  to  defend  himself 
against  the  attacking  Erinys.^ 

On  three  vases  (XXXIX,  XL,  XLI)  the  composition  has  been  reduced 
to  a  formula  of  pursuit,  in  which  Orestes,  attacked  by  a  Fury  on  either 
side,  defends  himself  with  sword  held  in  the  right  hand  and  scabbard 
in  the  left.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the  conception  of  the  vase- 
painters  it  was  evidently  the  presence  of  the  god  Apollo,  and  not  the 
sanctity  of  omphalus  and  altar,  that  protected  the  suppliant  from  the 
Erinyes,  for  on  two  pictures,  although  he  kneels  at  the  holy  of  holies, 
they  attack  him  with  snake  and  torch.  On  the  third  vase  (XLI)  we 
seem  to  see  Orestes  on  the  long  wanderings  that  led  him  ultimately  to 
Athens  and  the  ancient  image  of  the  goddess.  That  the  scene  is  not 
at  Delphi,  but  in  the  open,  is  shown  by  the  pebbles  used  to  indicate 
the  ground-line.  Both  Erinyes  attack  him  with  snakes,  but  his  head  is 
averted  from  the  one  who  holds  in  her  left  hand  a  mirror  that  reflects 
the  image  of  his  murdered  mother.  Finally,  in  one  instance  (XLII) 
Orestes  flees  before  a  single  wanged  Erinys. 

In  the  Eumenides,  as  the  last  of  the  trilogy,  we  move  out  of  the 
darkness  into  the  light,  and  in  every  scene  the  note  of  hope  is  sounded 
more  strongly,  until  we  emerge  into  the  final  brightness  of  the  acquittal 
and  the  solemn  pageant  that  establishes  the  Erinyes  as  2c/avat  in  their 
cavernous  dwelling.  The  arrival  of  Orestes  at  the  sanctuary  of  Athena 
is  not  depicted  on  the  vases,^  but  there  seems  to  be  a  faint  echo  of  the 

^  On  the  askos  the  Erinys  is  not  actually  represented.  In  her  stead  a  snake  darts 
out  at  Orestes.  This  must,  I  think,  be  taken  rather  as  a  symbolic  or  abbreviated 
representation  than  a  return  to  the  primitive  conception  of  the  Erinys  as  a  snake. 
For  illustrations  of  this  conception  on  eariy  Greek  pottery  see  J.  E.  Harrison,  Prolego- 
mena to  the  Study  of  Greek  Religion',  pp.  235-237. 

'■^  Verrall,  in  his  edition  of  the  EumeniJes,  p.  liii,  expresses  the  view  that  the 
interior  of  the  temple  was  not  revealed  at  all  in  the  first  act.  But  here,  if  anywhere, 
I  think  the  evidence  of  the  vases  ought  to  be  considered.  They  represent  only  the 
scene  at  the  omphalus. 


IC4  Hetty   Goldman 

trial  on  a  calpis  in  St.  Petersburg  (XLIII).     Here  the  result  of  the 
trial,  rather  than  the  trial  itself,  is  depicted.     It  is  indeed  difficult  to 
recognize  in  this  curled  and  richly  dressed  youth  the  desperate  fugitive 
from  torment  and  pursuit,  or  the  implacable  Erinyes  in  the  graceful 
maidens  that  resemble  the  daughters  of  Atlas  sporting  about  the  golden 
apple  tree.i     Their  transformation  into  beneficient  powers  is  already 
complete,  and  not  even  the  emblems  of  snake  and  torch  remain  to 
mark  their  former  identity.'^     Orestes,  crowned  with  laurel  and  carrying 
two  spears  in  his  right  hand,  stands  in  front  of  the  urn  into  which 
Athena  has  just  cast  her  vote.     He  appears  to  be  conversing  with  the 
goddess,  who  faces  him  and  stands  in  the  centre  of  the  picture  on  a 
somewhat  higher  level.     She  wears  helmet  and  aegis  and  carries  a 
spear.     A  small  Nike  flies  towards  her  to  indicate  the  triumph  of  her 
decision.    Ge,»  identified  by  an  enormous  snake  that  curls  over  her  arm 
and  rises  in  a  loop  behind  her  head,  sits  at  the  right  and  looks  towards 
Orestes.     An  Erinys  stands  in  front  of  her,  leaning  on  her  knee.     An- 
other is  seated  above  to  the  right  and  three  more  occupy  the  field  to 
the  left.       Hermes  stands  at   the   extreme   right,  but  Apollo,  whose 
presence  suggests  itself  far  more  naturally,  is  omitted.' 

With  this  vase  we  have  come  to  the  last  link  in  the  chain  that  con- 
nects the  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus  with  the  art  of  the  vase-painter,  and,  in 
looking  back,  we  must  ask  ourselves  how  close  a  bond  we  have  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  between  the  two.  Of  the  Agamemnon  we  have 
found  no  traces  on  monuments  that  represent  purely  Greek  tradition. 
On  the  other  hand,  do  the  many  typical  representations  of  Orestes  and 
Electra  at  the  grave  of  their  father  really  go  back,  consciously  and 
directly,  to  the    Chocphori  of  Aeschylus,  or  rather  to  a  form  of  the 


»  Cf.  the  vase  of  Meidias,   Furtwangler  und  Reichhold,   Die  gr.    Vasenmalerei, 

1         Q 

^  *  2  Of  course,  in  the  absence  of  all  emblems,  the  identification  as  Erinyes  cannot  be 

certain.  r>  , 

3  A  statue  of  GO  stood  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  Semnae  on  the  Areopogus,  Paus.  i, 

'-«  An  entirely  different  interpretation,  but  one  that  seems  to  me  less  probable  in 
view  of  the  large  urn  placed  between  Athena  and  the  youth,  has  been  suggested  by 
Heydemann  and  taken  up  by  Crusius  (Roscher,  Ausfuhrliches  Lexikon  der  Mythologie, 
art.  Kadmos,  pp.  839-840).  They  see  in  this  picture  Athena  encouragmg  Cadmus 
before  his  combat  with  the  dragon. 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


155 


myth,  ancient  in  its  origin,  that  first  inspired  and  then  reabsorbed  the 
conceptions  of  the  poets,  Xanthus,  Stesichorus,  and  Aeschylus  ?    Doubt- 
less among  the  people  at  large  the  legend,  as  Aeschylus  had  told  it,  was 
known  to  many  who  had  never  heard  of  the  poet ;  just  as  the  stories  of 
Shakespeare's  plays,  quite  dissociated  from  his  name,  are  repeated  in 
parts  of  rural  England.     But  it  was  not  to  this  class  that  the  vase- 
painters  catered.     The  pictures  are  almost  invariably  found  on  large 
vases  that  served  a  partly  useful,  partly  ornamental  purpose  in  the  houses 
of  the  rich  and  cultured  population  of  Southern  Italy  \  and  if  they  de- 
manded and  liked  these  representations  it  was  doubtless  on  account  of 
their  literary  and  theatrical  associations.     There  is,  however,  nothing  in 
the  pictures  to  suggest  that  the  vase-painter  had  either  seen  an  actual 
representation  of  the  play  or  done  more  than  familiarize  himself,  in  a 
general  way,  with  the  drama  he  was  called  upon  to  illustrate. 

But  in  the  representations  of  the  opening  scene  of  the  Eumenides 
there  breathes  an  entirely  different  spirit.  The  momentary  emotion,— 
the  terror  of  the  priestess,  the  exhaustion  of  the  suppliant,  the  indigna- 
tion of  the  affronted  god,  — seem  to  have  been  caught  from  the  living 
picture  of  the  stage  and  reproduced,  often  with  striking  fidelity.  And 
in  view  of  the  number  of  vases  we  have  been  able  to  associate  with  this 
scene,  we  are  justified  in  maintaining  that  no  other  single  creation  of  the 
tragic  poets  exerted  so  marked  an  influence  on  the  vase-painter's  art. 


LIST  OF   MONUMENTS » 

The  Agamemnon 

The  Sacrifice  of  Iphigenia 

I.    Pompeian  wall-painting  in  Naples. 

Raoul-Rochette,  Monumejis  Inedits,  p.  135,  pi.  27;  Helbig,  Campa- 
nische  IVandgemalde,  p.  283,  No.  1304;  Baumeister,  Denkmdler, 
I,  fig.  807. 

The  Murder  0/ Agamemnon 

II.   Cylix  (Attic  severe  r.  f.),  Berlin,  No.  2301. 

Archaeologtsche  Zeitung,  1854,  pk  66,  2;    Robert,  Bild  und  Lied, 

pp.  150,  178. 


>  In  this  list  I  have  noted  the  principal  monuments  which  I  have  discussed,  with 
brief  bibliographical  references  for  each.  The  Roman  numerals  are  the  ones  used  m 
the  text  in  referring  to  the  monuments. 


ic6  Hetty   Goldman 

ni.   Calyx  Crater  (Campanian),  St.  Petersburg,  No.  812. 

Millin-Reinach,  Peintures  de  I'asc-s  An/it/iitSy  I,  pi.  58;  Overbeck, 
Gallerie  heroischer  Bildiverke,  p.  680,  No.  3;  Arch.  Zeit.,  1854, 
pi.  66,  3;   Stephani,  Compte- Rendu,  1863,  p.  43. 

IV.    Etruscan  cinerary  urn. 

Rochette,  Mon.  Ined.,  p.  145.  P^-  29;  Brunn,  Vme  Etrusche,  I, 
pi.  74,  2;  Overbeck,  I/er.  Bildw.,  p.  682,  No.  5,  pi.  28,  3;  Bau- 
meister,  Denkmdle)\,  I,  fig.  22. 

v.    Etruscan  cinerary  urn. 

Brunn,  Urne  Etrusche,  I,  pi.  85,  4;  ''^««-  ^^^^  ^^^^">  1868,  Tav. 
d'  agg.  N. 

The  Choephori 

Orestes  and  Pylades  at  the  Grave  of  Agamejyinon 

VI.    Amphora   (Campanian   of   the   Nolan    type),   British    Museum,   F  143 
(C«/.  IV,  p.  70,  fig.  21). 

The  Meeting  of  Orestes  and  Electra  at  the  Gra7>e  of  Agamemnon 

VII.    Scyphus  (Lucanian). 

Inghirami,  Vasi  EittiH,  II,  pi.  140;  Rochette,  Mon.  Ined.,  p.  151; 
Overbeck,  Her.  Bildw.,  p.  687,  No.  14. 

VIII.    Terra  cotta  relief  from  Melos,  Louvre. 

Rayet,  Catalogue  de  la  collection  d'  antiquites  du  Louvre^  8;   Mon. 
deir  Inst.,  VI,  pi.   57,   i;     Conze,  Attn.  delP   Inst.,   1 86 1,  pp. 
340  ff.;    Robert,  Bild  und  lied,  pp.  167  ff. 
IX.    Lecythus  (white  ground),  British  Museum,  D  33  {Cat.  Ill,  p.  399). 

Plate  I. 
X.    Lecythus  (white  ground) . 

Inghirami,  Vasi  Eittili,  II,  pi.  1575     Rochette,  Mon.  Ined.,  p.  156, 
pi.  31  A. 
XL    Amphora  (Lucanian),  Naples,  No.  1755. 

Millingen-Reinach,  Peintures  de  Vases  Antiques,  pi.  14;    Inghirami, 
Vasi  Eittili,  II,  pi.  137;     Rochette,  Mon.  Ined.,  ^.  151;    Over- 
beck, Her.  Bildxv.,  p.  687,  No.  13;   Baumeister,  Denkmaler,  III, 

fig-  1939- 
XII.   Calpis  (Lucanian),  Naples,  No.  2858. 

Inghirami,  Vasi  Eittili,  II,  pi.  151;  Rochette,  Mon.  Ined.,  p.  1 59, 
pi.  34;  Overbeck,  Her.  Bildiv.,  p.  688,  No.  15,  pi.  28,  5;  Hud- 
dilston,  Greek  Tragedy  in  the  light  of  Vase-paintings,  p.  48,  fig.  2. 

XIII.    Calpis  (Lucanian),  Munich,  No.  814. 

Inghkami,  Vasi  Eittili,  II,  pi.  154  (incomplete);    HuddUston,  Gr, 
Tragedy,  etc.,  p.  52,  fig.  3. 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


157 


i 


XIV.    Amphora  (Lucanian). 

Millingen,  Vases  Coghill,  pi.  45;    Moses,   Vases  Englefeld,  pi.  20; 
Inghirami,  Vasi  Eittili,  II,  pi.  153;  Overbeck,  Her.  Bild^v.,  p.  690, 
No.  16. 
XV.    Amphora  (Lucanian),  Louvre,  No.  544. 

Plate  II;   of.  Huddilston,  Gr.  Tragedy,  etc.,  p.  54. 

XVI.    Medallion  Crater  (Lucanian),  Naples,  No.  1761. 

Millingen-Reinach,  Peintures  de  Vases  Antiques,  pi.  16;    Inghirami, 
Vasi  Eittili,  II,  pi.  139;     Rochette,  Moti.  Ined.,  p.  158,  pi.  31; 
Overbeck,  Her.  Bihki\,  p.  685,  No.  9,  pi.  28,  7. 

XVII.    Vase,  formerly  in  the  Hamilton  Collection. 

Tischbein,  Hamilton   Coll.,  II,  pi.  15;    Inghirami,   J'asi  Eittili,  II, 
pi.  141;   Overbeck,  Her.  Bildw.,  p.  686,  No.  10. 
XVIII.    Bell  Crater  (South  Italian),  British  Museum,  F  57  {Cat.  IV,  p.  40). 
D'Hancarville,  Hamilton  Collection,  II,  pi.  100. 

The  Murder  of  Aegisthus 

XIX,    Pitcher  (Apulian),  Bari,  not  pubUshed. 

Discussed,  Furtwangler,  Berliner  Philologische  Wochenschrift,  1888, 
p.  1451. 

The  Murder  of  Clytemnestra 

XX.    Etruscan  mirror. 

Overbeck,  Her.  Bildw.,  p.  704,  No.  38;  Gerhard,  Etruskische 
Spiegel,  II,  No.  237. 

Apollo'* s  Command  to  Orestes 

XXI.    Nestoris  (Lucanian),  Naples,  No.  1984. 

Rochette,  Mon.  Ined.,  p.  188,  pi.  37;  Overbeck,  Her.  Bild^v., 
p.  715,  No.  56,  pi.  29,  11;  Arch.  Zeit.,  i860,  pi.  138,  I;  Bau- 
meister, Denkmaler,  II,  fig.  1 307. 

The  Eumenides 

The  Purification  of  Orestes  at  Delphi 

XXII.    Bell  Crater  (South  Italian),  Louvre. 

Mon.  delP  Inst.,  IV,  pi.  48;  Overbeck,  Her.  Bildw.,  p.  714,  No. 
55,  pi.  29,  7;  Arch.  Zeit.,  i860,  pi.  138,  2;  Baumeister,  Denk- 
maler, II,  fig.  1 3 14;  Furtwangler  und  Reichhold,  Griechische 
Vasenmalerei,  pi.  120,  3. 

XXIII.  Bell  Crater  (Apulian),  St.  Petersburg,  No.  1734. 

Stephani,  Compte-Rendu,  1863,  p.  213,  cf.  p.  259,  No.  12. 

XXIV.  Bell  Crater  (Lucanian),  British  Museum,  F  166  {Cat.  IV,  p.  84). 

Ann.  delP  Inst.,  1847,  Tav.  d'  agg.  X;  Overbeck,  Her.  Bildw. ^ 
p.  716,  No.  58,  pi.  29,  12;   Arch.  Zeit.,  i860,  p.  62,  pi.  137,  3. 


158 


XXV. 
XXVI. 

XXVII. 


XXVIII. 


XXIX. 


XXX. 


XXXI. 
XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV. 

XXXVI. 


XXXVII. 
XXXVIII. 


Hetty   Goldman 

Orestes  takes  Refuge  at  Delphi 

Calpis  (Attic  r.  f.,  early  fine  style),  Berlin,  No.  2380. 

Arch.  Zeit.^  1884,  pi.  13. 
Amphora  (South  Italian,  style  of  Assteas),  Naples,  No.  3249. 

Jahn,  Vasenbilder,    pi.    I;     Botticher,    Berliner  Winckelmannspro- 
gram,  1859,  pi.  I ;    Huddilston,  Greek  Tragedy,  etc.,  p.  61,  fig.  6. 

Calyx  Crater,  formerly  in  the  Hope  Collection. 

Millin-Reinach,  Peintures  de  Vases  Antitjiies,  II,  pi.  68;  Overbeck, 
Iler.  Bildw.,  p.  712,  No.  54,  pi.  29,  9;    Baumeister,  Denkmaler, 

II,  fig-  1315- 
Amphora  (Apulian),  Vatican,  Helbig,  Fithrer^^  II,  No.  1238. 

Rochette,  Mon.  Ined..,  p.  90,  pi.  38;  Overbeck,  Her.  Bihkv.y 
p.  711,  No.  53,  pi.  29,  8;  Arch.  Zeit.,  i860,  pi.  137,  4,  cf. 
pp.  54  ff.;   Arch.  Zeit.,  1884,  pp.  199  ff. 

Calpis  (Campanian),  Berlin. 

Arch.  Anz.  V  (1890),  p.  90,  No.  8;  J.  E.  Harrison,  Prolegomena 
to  the  Study  0/  Greek  Religion- ,  p.  231,  fig.  51. 

Celebe,  Louvre  (  ?),  not  published. 

Described,    Cataloghi  del  Museo   Campana,   Ser.   IV,  No.    16;    cf. 
Stephani,    Comptc-Rendu,  1863,  p.   260,  13;    Arch.   Zeit.,  1884, 
p.  206. 
Calyx  Crater  (Apulian),  St.  Petersburg,  No.  349. 

Stephani,  Compte-Renduy  1S63,  pp.  251  ff.,  pi.  VI,  5. 

Amphora  (Apulian),  Collection  Jatta. 

Rochette,  iMon.  Im'd.,  p.  419,  pi.  76,  8;  Miner\'ini,  Bull.  Xap.,  II 
(1844),  p.  141 ;   Overbeck,  Her.  Bildw.,  p.  707,  No.  43,  pi.  29,  5. 

Volute  Crater  (Apulian),  Berlin,  No.  3256. 

Rochette,  Mon.  Ined.,  p.  193,  pi.  35;  Gerhard,  Apulische  Vasen- 
bilder,  pi.  A,  6;   Overbeck,  Her.  BiUkv.,  p.  710,  No.  52,  pi.  29,  4. 

Toy  crater,  Imperial  Cabinet,  Vienna. 

Arch.  Zeit.,  1877,  pi.  4,  I,  cf.  pp.  17,  137. 
Volute  Crater  (Apulian),  St.  Petersburg,  No.  523. 

Bull.  Nap.,  II  (1844),  pp.  107  ff.,  pi.  7,  I. 

Bell  Crater  (Apulian),  Copenhagen. 

Thorlacius,  J  rtj /"zV/mw,  ^/^.  (Copenhagen,  1826);  Muller-Wieseler, 
Denkm'dler,  II,  pi.  13,  No.  14S;  Gerhard,  Metroon,  pi.  II,  2  (only 
Orestes  and  the  omphalus) ;  Smith,  De  Malede  Vaser  i  Kjobn- 
havn,  p.  81;   Overbeck,  Her.  Bildiv.,  p.  710,  No.  51. 

Guttus  with  relief,  not  published. 

Described,  Brunn,  Bull.  delP  Inst.,  1853,  p.  165. 

Askos  with  relief,  British  Musueum,  G  48  {Cat.  IV,  p.  245),  not  pub- 
lished. 


The  Oresteia  of  Aeschylus 


159 


Orestes  Pursued  by  the  Furies 

XXXIX.    Vase,  formerly  in  the  Hamilton  Collection. 

Tischbein,  Second  Hamilton  Collection,  III,  pi.  23;    Overbeck,  Her. 
Bildw.,  p.  707,  No.  42,  pi.  29,  10. 

XL.    Rhyton. 

D'Hancarville,   Antiquites  etrusques,  grecques  et  romaines,  II,  pi. 
30,  31;  Overbeck,  Her.  Bildw.,  p.  707,  No.  44. 

XLI.    Nestoris  (Lucanian),  Naples,  No.  1984. 

Rochette,  Mon.  Ined.,  p.  186,  pi.  36;    Overbeck,  Her.  Bildw.,  p. 
706,  No.  41,  pi.  29,  2. 

XLII.    Bell  Crater  (South  Italian). 

Millingen,  Vases  Coghill,  pi.  29,  i;    Overbeck,  Her.  Bildw.,  p.  705, 
No.  40,  pi.  29,  3. 


The  Acquittal  of  Orestes  on  the  Areopagus 

XLIII.    Calpis,  St.  Petersburg,  No.  2189. 

Stephani,  Compte-Rendu,  i860,  pp.  99  ff.,  pi.  V. 


